Co.CreateCreativity in the converging worlds of advertising, entertainment, and technology.//www.fastcocreate.com
Copyright 2014, Mansueto Ventureshttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssen-usSun, 02 Aug 2015 18:23 +0000tiezzi@fastcompany.com (Teressa Iezzi)Sun, 02 Aug 2015 18:23 +0000faster@fastcompany.com (Fast Company)TXJP (0.0.1)creativityculturecommerceadvertisingmarketingbrandcampaignscommercialad agency/asset_files/static/logos/fastcocreate/create-fb-icon_big.pngCo.Create//www.fastcocreate.com
Creativity in the converging worlds of advertising, entertainment, and technology.4848TV Legend Norman Lear Tells A Story About How He Beat Writer's Block<p>When Norman Lear appeared on <em>The Daily Show</em> at the end of last year, Jon Stewart spoke for just about all of the show's more grizzled viewers when he greeted the famed TV producer with the words: "I want to thank you for raising me."</p>
<p>It was only a slight exaggeration of the impact Lear and his work have had on the multiple generations of people whose brains, comic sensibilities, and cultural references were forever shaped by the characters and the sitcom form that Lear invented. After writing for some of the biggest TV names of the '50s and '60s, in 1971, Lear co-created <em>All in the Family</em>, a show that redefined prime-time comedy and upended the era's conventions concerning the portrayal of American families and American issues on television. In the following years (and for years after that via syndication) he dominated North American TV with a string of hit shows including <em>Sanford and Son, Maude, The Jeffersons, One Day At A Time, Good Times</em>, and <em>Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman</em>. And those who never directly experienced Lear's creations in reruns are still feeling his comedic impact though through the work of the TV pioneers he influenced (like <em>Family Guy</em> creator Seth MacFarlane, <em>Roseanne</em> creator Roseanne Barr and <em>South Park</em> creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker).</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline inline column-container">
<div class="image-wrapper"><img src="//d.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2015/07/3049142-inline-archie1.jpg" alt=""/></div>
</figure>
<p>Lear finally captured the story of his TV life in his 2014 memoir, <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Even-This-I-Get-Experience/dp/1594205728" target="_blank">Even This I Get To Experience</a></em> (<a href="http://www.fastcocreate.com/3038282/norman-lear-on-the-nature-of-belly-laughs-the-stories-all-around-you-and-shaping-tv-as-we-kn" target="_self">read more about it in our interview with Lear here).</a></p>
<p>The book is a must-read for anyone interested in how those iconic characters came to be, and in the creative process generally. But beyond the riveting tales of how Lear got the bigoted Archie Bunker, and discussions of race, abortion and war on the air intact, the book simply offers an amazing story of an amazing life—from a difficult childhood in Connecticut, a stint as a B-17 bomber crew in World War II, and job as a press agent, to early work writing for stars like Danny Thomas and Dean Martin Jerry Lewis, social activism and the creation of advocacy group People for the American Way.</p>
<p>With Lear turning 93 years old this week, what better time to present some timeless advice from the prodigious writer and producer? We sat down with Lear in his Hollywood office where he shared the story of how he overcame his persistent writer's block—what he calls "shit in the head"—while working the film <em>Come Blow Your Horn</em>.</p>
<p><div id="macro-fc20"><style>
#fc20-newsletter {
max-width: 100%;
background: #c8d5dc;
}
#fc20-newsletter .block {
margin: 0 0 24px 0;
padding-left: 10px;
padding-top: 16px;
padding-bottom: 16px;
}
#fc20-newsletter p {
position: relative;
color: #000000;
font-size: 14px;
font-style: normal;
padding-right: 24px;
}
#fc20-newsletter input {
font-size: 18px;
border:0;
}
#fc20-newsletter button {
padding: 0 12px;
line-height: 32px;
border: 0 none;
font-weight: 300;
text-transform: uppercase;
background-color: #e40079;
box-shadow: none;
border-radius: 0;
font-size: 14px;
}
#fc20-newsletter button:hover {
background: #000000;
}
#macro-fc20 #fc20-newsletter {
display: block;
max-width: 100% !important;
}
#macro-fc20 #fc20-newsletter p {
position: relative;
color: #000;
font-size: 17px;
font-style: normal;
padding-left: 21px;
font-family: FCZizouSans;
margin-bottom: 12px;
}
#macro-fc20 .alert-box {
width: 80%;
}
#macro-fc20 .display {
padding-left: 5px;
}
</style>
<div id="fc20-newsletter" class="hide-for-small" data-name="fc20newsletter">
<div class="block row collapse">
<div class="twelve columns">
<div class="row">
<div class="twelve columns">
<p>Sign up to learn more about Fast Company's Innovation Festival in November</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="display row collapse">
<form action="/api/v1/newsletter_subscribe" method="post">
<div class="eight columns">
<input type="text" value="" name="email" class="email" id="email" placeholder="your@email.com">
</div>
<div class="four columns">
<input type="hidden" name="listID" value="8c167c72af">
<button class="button">Sign Up</button>
</div>
</form>
</div>
</div><!-- /.twelve.columns -->
</div><!-- /.block.row -->
</div><!-- /#sidebar-mcp-2104-newsletter -->
<script>
$(function() {
var $form = $('#fc20-newsletter form');
$form.on('submit',function(e){
e.preventDefault();
var self = this;
var action = $form.attr('action');
var method = $form.attr('method');
var data = $form.serialize();
// Disable input until we know more about the response
$form.find('input').prop('disabled', true);
$.ajax({
url: action,
type: method,
data: data,
context: $form
}).done(function (data) {
window.ga('send', 'event', 'User' , 'Interaction' , 'FC20:ArticleView:newsletter:success');
window.ga('rollup.send', 'event', 'User' , 'Interaction' , 'FC20:ArticleView:newsletter:success');
_formSuccess($form, data);
// vent.trigger('public:set-pref','public:Leadership:newsletter', 1);
}).fail(function (error) {
window.ga('send', 'event', 'User' , 'Interaction' , 'FC20:ArticleView:newsletter:fail');
window.ga('rollup.send', 'event', 'User' , 'Interaction' , 'FC20:ArticleView:newsletter:fail');
_formFail($form, error);
// vent.trigger('public:set-pref','public:mcp2014:newsletter', 0);
});
function _formSuccess ($form, data) {
if (!$form) { return; }
// Remove form and display success message
$form.parent('div').html('<div class="alert-box success">Thank you! Please check your inbox to confirm!</div>');
$form.parent('div').removeClass('error');
};
function _formFail ($form, error) {
if (!$form) {
return;
}
// Use message from server response
var message = JSON.parse(error.responseText);
if (message.response && message.response.message) {
message = message.response.message;
// Error message not provided
} else {
message = 'Please enter a valid email address.';
}
var $parent = $form.parent('div');
// Remove other errors first
var $errors = $parent.find('.alert-box');
if ($errors) {
$errors.fadeOut(300, function() {
$(this).remove();
});
}
if (message && (message.code === -100)||(message.code === 220)) {
message = 'Please enter a valid email address.';
}
// Append new errors
$form.parent('div').prepend('<div class="alert-box alert">' + message + '</div>');
$form.find('input').prop('disabled', false);
};
});
})
</script></div></p>Teressa Iezzihttp://www.fastcocreate.com/3049142http://www.fastcocreate.com/3049142/creation-stories/tv-legend-norman-lear-tells-a-story-about-how-he-beat-writers-block?partner=rss
http://www.fastcocreate.com/3049142/creation-stories/tv-legend-norman-lear-tells-a-story-about-how-he-beat-writers-block?partner=rss#commentsThu, 30 Jul 2015 10:00 +0000PeopleCreation StoriesNo Future: Present Shock and Why Our Now-Fixation Has Changed Everything From Advertising To Politics<p>"I'm working at a reasonable pace where I can focus, intently and undisturbed, for long periods of time on the important parts of my work, while planning for the future with a great sense of optimism, confident I can contribute to solving our society's biggest problems," said nobody this year. Overworked, overstimulated, distracted, FOMO-plagued, and device-obsessed is our default state—a function of the rate of change wrought by digital technology. But to see our current state as merely "moving faster" may be missing a larger shift.</p>
<p>Douglas Rushkoff offers a bold interpretation of that essential shift—and gives those in the brand, media, and technology worlds reams of talking points and debate fodder—with his new book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Present-Shock-When-Everything-Happens/dp/1591844762" target="_blank"><em>Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now.</em></a> We're not, Rushkoff argues, just overburdened with the infinite inputs of the digital age, but we've become unmoored from our traditional relationship with time. While, in the past, we looked toward the future, now we are all about the now; we are "defined by presentism."</p>
<p>Over the course of the book, writer, media theorist, and lecturer Rushkoff (whose last book was <a href="http://www.rushkoff.com/program-or-be-programmed/" target="_blank"><em>Program or Be Programmed</em></a>) outlines the manifestations of presentism in our personal and business lives and the disorientation—present shock—that has resulted. In doing so, he draws lines between our obsession with a zombie apocalypse, the rise of reality TV, and the reasons why Janie would rather send pictures of herself at a party to friends than talk to her friends at the party.</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//b.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/cocreate/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2013/03/1682643-inline-inline-4-present-shock.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p>In the book, Rushkoff says: "Our society has reoriented itself to the present moment. Everything is live, real time, and always-on. It's not a mere speeding up, however much our lifestyles and technologies have accelerated the rate at which we attempt to do things. It's more of a diminishment of anything that isn't happening right now—and the onslaught of everything that supposedly is."</p>
<p>Note the "supposedly." We are more and more obsessed with the now, a present that can never really exist and that therefore provides a source of anxiety for all of us trying to live in it. And presentism doesn't just affect people trying to cope with staying on top of an impossible volume of information and responding to distractions rather than moving forward. The "real-time, always-on, pervasive, and constant" nature of reality impacts companies, brands, political movements, societies—humanity.</p>
<p>One major aspect of presentism, and one that content creators will find interesting is what Rushkoff calls Narrative Collapse. This idea concerns how that fundamental mode of human communication, story, and our whole societal narrative changed when we stopped leaning into the future and arrived at it. The book explores the impact on entertainment and brand communications.</p>
<p>Rushkoff breaks down other symptoms of our current condition. They include: digiphrenia ("the tension between the faux present of digital bombardment and the true now of a coherently living human generates…digiphrenia—digi for 'digital,' and phrenia for 'disordered condition of mental activity."); fractalnoia, dealing with how the volume and now-intensity of information causes us to create patterns that don't exist; and apocalypto, "a belief in the imminent shift of humanity into an unrecognizably different form" (see: Doomsday preppers).</p>
<p>Here, Rushkoff talks about presentism, its effects on people and brands, and how we can cope.</p>
<p><strong>Co.Create: What is presentism—and what's it got to do with zombies and the singularity?</strong><br />
Douglas Rushkoff: It's very easy to be so distracted by the immediate pings and tweets around us that we fail to make time to engage with the bigger ideas underlying our society as it transitions out of the Industrial Age.</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//b.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/cocreate/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2013/03/1682643-inline-inline-2-present-shock.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p>Most succinctly, presentism is what comes after futurism. Where we spent a century or more leaning forward toward the future, addicted to growth, and speculating on whatever might be next, we are now in an era that emphasizes the present. The here and now. And digital technology is a perfect complement to this new sensibility, in that it emphasizes the moment rather than the past or future.</p>
<p>Think of the difference between an analog clock, with a sweep second hand that moves through time, and a digital clock which just sits there, poised at 3:22 or 3:23. In the digital temporal landscape, a minute is not some portion of the day—an hour is not a pie slice of a day—but an absolute duration. It just is.</p>
<p>And so in a presentist society (note I'm not talking about present shock, here, which is a panic reaction to all this presentism), there are no beginnings and endings. Campaigns and goals and results make less sense to people. An easy example for "fast" company people to relate to would be the stock market: people bought Facebook shares expecting them to go up immediately. Then they sold them minutes later when they didn't. They were expecting to make money not by investing, but on the trade itself.</p>
<p>What this all has to do with zombies and the apocalypse is that all this presentism can get unnerving. We aren't used to stories that just keep on going. We are accustomed to defined endpoints. To winning, or even losing—which is better than the indeterminism of an infinite game. So for many of us, it's preferable to fantasize about a zombie apocalypse or even a "singularity" through which computers will overtake us. They just can't get used to what it's like to live beyond the stories that we used to imagine for ourselves, so they superimpose a movie narrative over human society.</p>
<p><strong>I think of short-termism as such a huge problem in everything—from marketing to TV programming to politics/social policy. Is this a function of presentism—and is it going to get worse?</strong><br />
Short-termism is definitely related. It's not a healthy form of presentism—it's not being in the now, at all—but it is a form of present shock in that it is a bad way of coping with everything happening in the present moment. People just speed up. That's not in the moment at all.</p>
<p>Think of it in terms of business, which is really the starkest example I can imagine. Shareholders are the most impatient beasts around, right? They don't care about anything but the speed of returns. And as a result, they often force companies to cut back on quality, research and development, and all the sorts of things that are required of a genuinely sustainable business. It's more like when the mob takes over a restaurant.</p>
<p>Presentism—the good kind—actually puts a stop to this short-termism. Because if you are in your business for the true now, you are more concerned with how good a job you are doing, how you are benefiting your culture in real time, than what you can pay to investors next week. And of course, investors would do much much better in the long run to engage with companies who think this way. In some ways—much as the "lean" people would argue—focusing on the present makes the best long-term sense. But I'm not talking about the distracted present of your Twitter feed here. I mean the actual process and quality of what you are doing.</p>
<p><strong>Stories, as you acknowledge, are such a fundamental way that people understand reality and communicate, yet you're arguing that this most basic language has changed—narrative has collapsed. And some of the examples you give pre-date what we'd consider the digital age of YouTube and smartphones, and social media. So what spurred this narrative collapse and how does it manifest itself?</strong><br />
There's a terrific book chapter on this. What we're doing here is deciding not to tell that story, but instead to try to bullet point its essential ideas into an interview answer. That's a form of narrative collapse in itself. So I won't try to do what the book does. Instead, I'll tell you in shorthand that stories since Aristotle's time have beginnings, middles, and ends. We used those stories to get people to do all sorts of things, from fighting revolutions to buying pimple cream.</p>
<p>Over time, we have become largely immune to the effects of stories. We don't care if cookies were made by elves in a hollow tree. We don't even believe in wars we can go "win." Add to that the fact that we have digital technologies from remote controls to DVRs that let us interrupt or even mashup narrative into anything we choose, and the storyteller loses his authority over us.</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//g.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/cocreate/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2013/03/1682643-inline-inline-5-present-shock.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p>So we start looking to different kinds of entertainment—from the early stuff like The Simpsons and <em>Mystery Science Theater 3000</em> to newer stuff like <em>Game of Thrones</em> or <em>Community</em>. These kinds of TV shows are not about story in the traditional sense. They are either about drawing connections, going "meta," or simply keeping the story going infinitely, like a fantasy role-playing game.</p>
<p>While it's easy to see how reality TV reflects the changes you describe in the book, something like <em>Game of Thrones</em> or <em>The Sopranos</em>—things we consider the pinnacle of entertainment—how are they a reflection of presentism?<br />
They are entertaining, but they are never truly climactic. In a way they are a bit like the serialized stories of Dickens, for which he was paid by the word. He just kept the stories going in monthly magazine installments. To end the story might be to lose readers.</p>
<p><em>The Sopranos</em> didn't have an ending, remember? The show just cut to black in the middle of a moment. As if someone (maybe even we) had been killed—but not with any purpose or meaning or insight. No reversal and recognition. Just bang. Or was it the story that they ended—as if to say, "enough"?</p>
<p><strong>You note: "We are in danger of squandering this cognitive surplus on the trivial pursuit of the immediately relevant over any continuance of the innovation that got us to this point." Does this explain the seeming issues we have—businesses and society—making bigger innovation leaps right now?</strong><br />
Well, genuinely embracing presentism would be a way out, I think. Truly choosing to burrow into our competence, support our innovators, and build the culture through and around them, they need to attract the other most competent people in the world? That's presentism. That's choosing to make what we're doing really great, rather than always gaming the market responses to what we're doing.</p>
<p>The more panicked reaction, what I'm calling present shock, is to mistake the incessant demands of the now for the real moment you should be inhabiting. I break it down into five main types of confusion. The simplest one to get your head around is "digiphrenia," which is the stress of having more than one instance of yourself functioning at the same time. There is you, there's your Twitter ID, your Facebook profile—any of which (particularly if you look at Mark Zuckerberg's ever-changing user agreement) may be acting on your behalf when you're not there. So you have to be in all these different places at once, managing all these various streams of pings, and that makes it hard to make the kind of time you need to actually contemplate something. To sit down and ask the bigger questions.</p>
<p>Sure, you can go do an "offsite" and ban smartphones or whatever. But that only makes it clearer just how little freedom we have to do this at our real workplaces. We could have used digital technology to free up our time—we still can, as I try to show in the book—but we have to take charge of it in order to do so. Otherwise it really will take charge of us.</p>
<p><strong>If "change is a steady state of existence, not an event that happens" what are some of the big shifts that have to happen in business for companies to survive in this reality? It seems difficult to create a traditional business plan if change is constant..</strong><br />
For companies to survive in a presentist reality, they're going to have to come to grips with the changing time biases of money and banking. This may sound heady to some of you—particularly when I'm saying it this fast—but the money we use has a built-in clock. It was invented in the 12th century for a very particular purpose, and it is quite obsolete. We can't run our businesses at the pace of our debt structures anymore. It's really that simple. Anybody who is beholden to the rate of debt must eventually become a lender himself. It's the only way to keep up. That's what befell GE, and they're still desperately trying now to shed banking and become a real company again.</p>
<p>As we move into a more presentist society, we begin to see steady-state economic systems come into play. Think Etsy, but writ large. Peer-to-peer trading, local reinvestment, and nonpublic companies that are not required to grow. Why do you think Michael Dell is trying to bring Dell private? It's to save his company from the short-termism of shareholders.</p>
<p>So in the book I share how companies can learn to live in a more harmonious relationship to the ebb and flow of their market cycles. It's a lot easier to do if they have smarter investors than the typical public shareholders though.</p>
<p><strong>What are the primary shifts that presentism is causing for brands and the way they communicate? Is brand storytelling irrelevant?</strong></p>
<p>It's pretty irrelevant. Brand stories were developed to insulate consumers from the realities of factory labor and to substitute for the human relationships they used to have with local merchants. They've come a long way since then, but their essential function is the same.</p>
<p>Now that social media and other cultural factors are reconnecting people to one another, this branding style no longer seems consonant with our culture. Instead, companies need to market by giving their customers and other constituents the facts they need to promote the brand to friends and others. All we're looking for is what I call "social currency"—good excuses to share information with other people. So give us the ammo we need to use your brand as a badge of green, local, or some other form of social responsibility. And then give us the data we need to communicate this. We will do the work for you. Just give us the ammo we need to tell "our" story.</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//a.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/cocreate/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2013/03/1682643-inline-inline-3-present-shock.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p><strong>You note a huge shift that is happening: brands de-emphasizing messages and focusing on "brand experience." This is certainly a huge change that some brands are trying to make—that instead of blasting messages, companies are being forced to DO things. Do you see this as one of the upsides of all these changes that are happening?</strong></p>
<p>One of many upsides, sure. Digital spaces are more nonfiction- than fiction-oriented. People tweet facts, not stories. So the second best way to market a product is tell people where it's made, why it's good, and so on. The first best way is to convey those qualities through the experience of the product itself. In real time, in the moment. Get it? That's scary and hard, because it means you have to actually make something well, in a righteous fashion, and then have frontline people who are actually walking the walk as well.</p>
<p>Now that we have things like <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1781900/how-many-slaves-are-working-you" target="_self">Slaveryfootprint.org</a> and a host of other ways for people to see what a company is really doing right now, it behooves all of them to begin acting in ways that reflect well on themselves. Act in ways that actually make the world a better place. Not as some compensation for the bad, but <em>instead</em> of the bad. Figure that out, and it's a lot more beneficial than figuring out some new story about the Doughboy. What the heck is in a Pillsbury muffin, anyway?</p>
<p><strong>One of the things you note about brands and social media is the idea that you have a social media strategy whether you call it that or not. How should companies be looking at their role in social media's feedback loop?</strong></p>
<p>Well, we used to be able to measure feedback from consumers, because it came in the form of sales, or maybe letters and focus groups. You'd put a product out there, wait a quarter, and then get reports from the sales floor on how it did. Then you'd adjust and go out again. Now, feedback comes instantaneously. There are people responding on Twitter to your marketing campaigns in real time. Or before the campaign has even rolled out. Then you change the campaign based on that feedback. So it's hard to even parse cause and effect anymore. It's a bit like a feedback loop. When you put a microphone next to the speaker and all you get is screech?</p>
<p>That's a form of present shock I talk about in the book, as well as how to see what's going on. You can't really get much data from screech. You have to soften your focus a bit and learn to do pattern recognition instead. It's not so very hard, you just have to understand this new temporal landscape.</p>
<p><strong>You seem positive about games as an antidote or response to the collapse of narrative. Why?</strong><br />
I think that video games offer an alternative to watching some hero go through a journey. Games offer a real-time, first-person experience of making decisions. We make the choices.</p>
<p>And the best games are presentist in the sense that they don't have to end. We don't play <em>World of Warcraft</em> to "win"—we play to keep the game going. We want to live on, fight more battles. And we enjoy being the character, making choices live, rather than sitting there watching some piece of film that was made years ago.</p>
<p><strong>There is something of a concerned tone in the book. What's your overall feeling—is this unalterably changing human interaction for the worse, or is it an awkward phase in our evolution?</strong><br />
I'm hoping it's an awkward phase in our evolution. And that by calling attention to it, I can help people and companies make the transition successfully. They don't need to fall into present shock. I think I've done a good job, particularly in the second half of the book, offering strategies and approaches for contending with presentist markets, consumers, communication, employees, and society in ways that don't have to involve massive change. Just some adjustments.</p>
<figure class="inline-small inline">
<img src="//c.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/cocreate/imagecache/inline-small/inline/2013/03/1682643-inline-inline-1-present-shock.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p><strong>When I was reading, I kept thinking of the Arcade Fire song <a href="http://rapgenius.com/Arcade-fire-we-used-to-wait-lyrics" target="_blank">"We Used To Wait."</a> Obviously presentism is manifest in the art we consume but are you seeing artists offering a counterpoint or, I guess, "fighting" this? I mean, you've chosen to write a book, even though at the end you acknowledge that most people won't read up to that point and will get a summary online. </strong></p>
<p>Yeah. The most radical thing about the book <em>Present Shock</em> is that it's a book at all. I'm here writing opera when the people are listening to singles. But there's a place for both. Particularly in a genuinely presentist society where we take authority over the moment we're in, rather than surrendering it to the next ping.</p>
<p>[<em>Image: Flickr users <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/generated/1164824075/in/photostream/" target="_blank">Jared Tarbell</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/venndiagram/5212445548/" target="_blank">Venndiagram</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenpoff/2957334726/in/photostream/" target="_blank">Stephen</a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenpoff/3152759802/" target="_blank">Poff</a>, and <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/buckshotfrank/" target="_blank">Buckshotfrank</a></em>]</p>Teressa Iezzihttp://www.fastcocreate.com/1682643http://www.fastcocreate.com/1682643/no-future-present-shock-and-why-our-now-fixation-has-changed-everything-from-advertising-to-?partner=rss
http://www.fastcocreate.com/1682643/no-future-present-shock-and-why-our-now-fixation-has-changed-everything-from-advertising-to-?partner=rss#commentsWed, 08 Jul 2015 12:49 +0000douglas rushkoffnarrative collapsepresent shocksocial mediatimeBrandsHow Paul Feig Busted Genres And Activated Melissa McCarthy In "Spy"<p>Seeing a film through from idea to viable entertainment property is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh6nYOhItOM" target="_blank">never exactly easy.</a></p>
<p>But with his latest film, Paul Feig assigned himself a project with an almost absurdly high difficulty level. Out of the gate, he faced the daunting task of following up the success of back-to-back hits <em>Bridesmaids</em> and <em>The Heat</em>. And with his chosen project, <em>Spy</em>, in theaters June 5, Feig had to satisfy two very distinct briefs: making an action-packed spy thriller and making a big comedy. Each had to deliver on the promises of its genre, and the two had to cohere into one narrative unit. He also chose to write the film as well as direct (<em>Bridesmaids</em> was written by Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig and <em>The Heat</em> by Katie Dippold, who will also co-write Feig's upcoming Ghostbusters remake). Oh, and while he was at it, why not throw in a message of female empowerment that feels organic in both action and comedy modes.</p>
<figure class="inline-video inline"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ltijEmlyqlg?rel=1&amp;autoplay=0" width="560" height="340" frameborder="0"></iframe></figure>
<p>Judging from the overwhelmingly positive response—<em>Spy</em> stands at a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes—Feig cleared the bar without putting so much as a wrinkle in his trademark <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/05/02/clothes-horse" target="_blank">killer suit.</a></p>
<p><em>Spy</em> sees Feig reunited with collaborator Melissa McCarthy, who stole scenes in <em>Bridesmaids</em> and shared billing with Sandra Bullock in the buddy cop comedy <em>The Heat</em>. Here, McCarthy has the lead as Susan Cooper, a CIA agent who acts as the invisible, in-earpiece advisor to agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law). While Cooper is a desk-bound analyst lacking all spy-like attitude (her mother's childhood advice, recounted to a coworker, ranged from "blend in, let someone else win" to "give up on your dreams"), the suave, oblivious Fine is straight from the Bond catalog. When things go wrong for Fine in the field though, and other agents become compromised, Cooper becomes the agency's only option. She steps up and into an international mission to find villain Rayna Boyanov (a sublime Rose Byrne) and a rogue nuke.</p>
<figure class="inline-small inline">
<img src="//a.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-small/inline/2015/06/3047039-inline-h-1-spy-paul-feig.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Paul Feig<span class="credit">Photo: Larry Horricks, Courtesy of 20th Century Fox Pictures</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The plot sounds like straightforward spy fare. But Feig cleverly tweaks the format and characters, adding delightful layers instead of descending into dopey parody. Cooper is an unexpected spy, but in unexpected ways. That is, Feig doesn't just paint a bumbling fish out of water. She may be in over her head, but as we learn in the film when her boss (Allison Janney) shows an old academy training video, she's actually a fearsome fighter. She's mousy and unassuming, and she's given a comically unglamorous fake identity, but she also becomes the object of crazed sexual obsession of an Italian agent named Aldo (played with abandon by Peter Serafinowicz). McCarthy gets to inhabit the many facets of a multi-dimensional character, as Cooper journeys from desk-jockey to deadly field agent, in between improvising spy maneuvers and holding her own (mostly) in chases and even a thrilling extended knife fight with an enemy female agent.</p>
<p>And Feig has created more than a handful of meaty supporting roles—Serafinowicz, Byrne, Law, and Janney are just four of the notable co-stars here, along with Miranda Hart, who plays Cooper's best friend, and Jason Statham who's earned some strong reviews for his comic portrayal of Rick Ford, a cartoonishly macho spy whose exploits are trumped only by his unending monologues about them (look for Feig himself in a cameo).</p>
<p>But the film is at its best when Byrne's uber-bitchy Euro villain and a field-toughened McCarthy are facing off. Those scenes, hilarious and hair-curlingly profane, show that Feig doesn't need two women to be buddies to mine the magic in their relationship.</p>
<p>Here, we talk to the Feig about writing across genres, creating a new kind of Spy that's just like us, and McCarthy's gift for pupil-dilating insults.</p>
<p><strong>Co.Create: You've said before that you had it in your mind to make a female James Bond movie. As a writer, how did you congeal that into a script—what was your starting place?</strong><br />
<br />
Feig: I wanted to just make sure that it was a relatable story, not a story of somebody who's a machine but where it's more a matter of asking: If any of us who wanted to do something in life that we weren't allowed to do and suddenly we got to do it, how would it go? She was somebody who wanted to do this but she got convinced that she couldn't because Jude Law's character manipulated her into being in his earpiece and then suddenly gets this opportunity but her skills are long dormant.<br />
<br />
Like everything I write, I kinda go, "what would I do?" Because I haven't been in that world and I would be afraid to be out there. So you really just kind of logically go and set up a situation and then say how would I deal with that, set up a situation, how would I deal with that, and so on.<br />
<br />
And I also did a lot of research into male versus female spies and what I kept finding were these things where they basically said that women make better spies than men just because of the ability to interact and about gain trust, and be in touch with human emotions, where guys tend to be more about brawn and all that.<br />
<br />
It was really just trying to be true to that idea and then trying to figure out where can the comedy come from that's not silly but out of these real situations.<br />
<br />
<figure class="inline-large inline"><br />
<img src="//c.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2015/06/3047039-inline-i-2-spy-paul-feig.jpg" alt=""/><br />
</figure></p>
<p><strong>It's an action packed comedy—with serious chase scenes and fight scenes. Did you feel like you were operating in a kind of left brain / right brain way when you were writing—switching back and forth on two very different things?</strong><br />
<br />
Yeah, weirdly I had to unify that because what I didn't want is a bunch of kick-ass action scenes that didn't have any humor in them, but at the same time you don't want a silly action scene because then the stakes fall out.</p>
<p>(I looked for) ways of finding how to make this funny without subverting it. Like, when she throws up on the body (after throwing an enemy agent off a roof)—it's like to me that feels like a very real thing. She's got this instinct to be able to beat him up and when she accidentally pushes him off the roof, it was, well, what's the aftermath for a normal person like us? If we did that and, oh my god, you saw you impaled someone, yeah the odds are you would throw up. <br />
<br />
Some people would call that broad but to me it's only broad in the sense that it's a big event. To me it's a completely real event that's just pushed to the edge. And that's what I find funny because, if the audience goes like "well that's stupid," then we've lost the audience.<br />
<br />
<strong>It was interesting to see Melissa, who obviously has a gift for physical comedy, translating it into more serious fighting scenes and things like that.</strong><br />
<br />
Well it was really important to me to get her doing that because she's such a good physical comedian, she's almost athletic in that way. And I wanted Susan to be kicking ass but at the same time I didn't want it to be where she could beat up 400-pound guys and things like that.<br />
<br />
So the knife fight is one of my favorite things I've ever done on film because to me it feels very real. The first half is just about "get away from me, get away from me," and then she finds her mojo a little bit and then kind of gets empowered from it. We see what she can do because we'd seen in the beginning when we see that old training video that she had these skills that went dormant. To me that's just a fun, funny way to see (the fight) because there's just the comedy of a funny person being like, oh my god, this is not fake-y peril, this is like somebody's got a knife and they're gonna kill me. But then the way she's blocking, you get the joke in that, which is Jackie Chan-inspired.</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//h.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2015/06/3047039-inline-i-3-spy-paul-feig.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p><strong>Did a lot of training go into that?</strong></p>
<p>She worked with a fight choreographer for a week before she came out. That's the very first thing that she shot in the movie was that big, two-day fight scene. She's very in control of her instrument as they say in the acting business.<br />
<br />
<strong>Because this is such a familiar genre, how did you balance using the tropes and adding something new? The story unfolds in a fresh way.</strong><br />
<br />
I think the key to that is having come up with a character who is out for the first time because that is what allowed me to take those turns that are unexpected. Because literally, when you see a spy movie you go "okay well, they do this next." And it's like well wait, would they? Or is that because I've seen that a bunch of times?<br />
<br />
So it's easier to go, okay this person who has never been out doing this before and who is undervalued by everybody and she's not sure if she can do it, how does that person deal with a situation? And so it's it's very intuitive to go, wait what would really happen? What would you do? And so all you can fall back on is what we would do.<br />
<br />
And so that's why as a writer you have to be an actor. You have to be able to put yourself in shades of your own head—what is the scared version of me, what is the cool version of me, what is the insecure version of me? And then you have to switch on those modes and go, what would I do if I was that person, what would I do as that person? And that's when you get these turns that are unexpected because you're not just going well let's do that because they always do that.<br />
<br />
But it's hard and you really have to be vigilant as you write to make sure you're calling yourself on stuff. And then also empowering the people that you work with also to call you on that stuff too and the actors that you work with. Plenty of times Melissa's like, I don't think I would do that. And it's like, oh cool, well how would you do it or what would you do? I'd do this. Great. Let's figure out the best way to do that.<br />
<br />
<strong>Speaking of that, how much was improv? You've talked in the past about not wanting things to seem too written down, and leaving things open, especially working with actors like these.</strong><br />
<br />
There's a good amount of improv and alt joke writing. I always have at least one extra writer on set with me with a post-it pad—they're just writing jokes as they think of them and handing them to me and if I like it I'll call it in. And I come up with ideas and I set them loose and let Melissa do her thing. A lot of time improv just means changing the wording, it doesn't mean like go off on a complete tangent. And that's what Melissa is really great at, just taking these little twists and just making them their own.<br />
<br />
I just had that recently with a script we were reading and it's, I mean it reads like a dream, it was so funny. And then we sit down with the people and they read it and it reads fine but you're still kinda like yeah but it's still—there's no life in it right now because it's still just lines on a page. But then you can't wait to get that to the set because then when we let (the actors) start molding it then it's gonna get really funny. So as long as you've got that solid, solid blueprint base then you play off that.<br />
<br />
But the worst thing you can do is go in and go 'these are my words, don't mess with them.' And there's plenty of people that do great work that way but it's just a different tone they're going for.<br />
<br />
<strong>Some of the crude banter between Melissa and Rose is just—I laughed out loud at one particular line. (Readers, we won't spoil it for you, and it probably doesn't translate when taken offscreen, but it happens during a plane ride and all you need to know is that it's unbelievably profane and funny.) I just have to know, how did that moment come about? </strong><br />
<br />
That was, that's such a funny line. That was an improv that Melissa came up with. She's very funny because I'll push her, I'll go, like you should really slam into that or really make that a point. And so my favorite moment is she'll start a line and she'll go, "Oh, I can't say that!" And I'm always like, "Say it, whatever you weren't gonna say, you've gotta. You've gotta say it."<br />
<br />
That was one of those ones. She started to say it and she started to laugh and she was like I can't, it's too mean. And I said, "I'll kill you if you don't say it." And she did and that was, that came out and that was the only time she did it and it was like, oh my god, it's one of the most perfectly crafted jokes I've ever heard.<br />
<br />
<strong>Did you have Melissa in mind when you first started with this?</strong></p>
<p>Not when I first wrote it, no, because I didn't think she was available. She was doing Mike and Molly and I was originally going to shoot it in the fall when she was busy so I kind of wrote it just for a funny everywoman type because there are so many funny women that I'm dying to work with. But when she read it and decided she wanted to do it, we didn't really have to adjust too much just because, I mean all the women I know who are funny are very just sweet, normal people, you know? Kristen and Melissa and Amy Poehler, everybody I know, they're really just pleasant people. So I think I wrote it just like oh I'll just write it the way these people really are and then they have to go into a situation where they have to be tough, they have to play different roles.<br />
<br />
And so it really just fit into who Melissa really is. And then I got really excited about the idea because, you know there's this shitty thing about comedy in general and especially for women in comedy. Like when <em>The Heat</em> was coming out I saw so many reporters on the news saying, "well I mean doesn't she just do the same thing all the time? She's just being mean." And I was like, first of all, well fuck you, every male comedy star, they have the kind of the same thing they do; we all do shades of what we do, we have some things that make us funny.<br />
<br />
So then I thought, oh well, this is a great opportunity to go, okay, she's going to be funny in a completely different character, this meek person who then has to kind of pretend that she's tough but she's really not tough, she's just acting it out because she has to, to be good at her job. And so I got really excited about that because it was like oh good, I'm going to show people that she can be funny as a meek person.<br />
<br />
And she's so funny as just Susan Cooper before she snaps into Amber Valentine (her made-up alter ego) and she's swearing up a storm. She's hilarious when she's chasing the bad guy through France and dealing with Jason Statham. It's fun to see her that way. It's all her awakening.<br />
<br />
<strong>Was the Jason Statham character, the exaggerating spy, a poke at something?</strong><br />
<br />
Oh, it built slowly. I always wrote the role for Statham but, I go for this George Bernard Shaw quote which is "all men mean well." So I never want characters to just be an asshole because they're an asshole. I like the idea that his character probably is a great spy but because he gets so thrown by the fact that they're putting somebody who he considers to be a secretary out in his job, he quits, so now he doesn't have his earpiece girl in his ear and so he's off his game a little bit and he's starting to make really bad decisions.<br />
<br />
And it was really Katie (Dippold) who was doing some punch up on the script who was the one who first wrote some really absurd lines that he would say and then we just kind of went like, oh my god, that's so funny. Ironically when Jason was gonna do the movie, he was the most nervous about those speeches because they were very long and wordy and he was kinda like "I don't know, that's not quite how I talk." I said "just try it."<br />
<br />
<figure class="inline-large inline"><br />
<img src="//f.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2015/06/3047039-inline-spy-statham.jpg" alt=""/><br />
</figure></p>
<p>And so the first time we had a read through and he just read them, we were like, oh my god. Melissa and I were in the room with him and it was like this is the greatest thing ever. It was the fastest rehearsal ever because he came in and just read them and I was like, I don't want to rehearse anymore, let's not do anything. Come to the set and we're gonna do this now.<br />
<br />
And then it just became the most fun thing on the set just writing more absurd things for him to say. And he would just commit to them hardcore. I mean half those jokes are written on the set and it's him being such an amazing guy and an actor that he just went for it and sold them dead serious.<br />
<br />
<strong>You've also talked in the past how, and it's something that I think would surprise people, about how much you use testing. Did you do that for this movie?</strong><br />
<br />
Oh yeah.<br />
<br />
<strong>What did you learn? Were there any surprises?</strong></p>
<p>I mean, we do it just to make sure that everything is working as we go along and we started early in the process here. We did nine or ten of them over the course of several months because every time we show it we're adjusting something or changing something.<br />
<br />
The biggest surprise for me, and this sounds terrible now, is that it worked (laughs). Because, no, I was convinced it would work but at the same time when we put together our first version of it I just had all these moments. I remember saying to my editor, is this going to work or is this going to bomb?</p>
<p>But the very first screening was like a rock concert. From that very first moment when (Fine) sneezes and shoots (the bad guy), the place went crazy. But you didn't know, because tonally we were on this razor's edge where you're like is it too subtle? And that sounds ridiculous because there are such big things in it but it was just a question of, is this just a tough tone to pull off? So I think that was just the biggest thing because we scored a ninety-two on our first screening, which is fairly unheard of.</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//a.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2015/06/3047039-inline-i-4-spy-paul-feig.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p><strong>Did you feel that when you were writing? Trying to find the tone, or going back and forth?</strong><br />
<br />
No. I was really convinced that I knew exactly what it was. I was really confident about it. It was only when you just put it together and you sit back and it's all in front of you and you're like okay this is exactly what I said I was gonna do, so, if this doesn't work.</p>
<p>But, i's just fun. I like scope, I like entertaining an audience. I'm really into it for the escapism part of it. I want to tell stories that mean something to people and where people engage in the characters but I also want them to come in and, I want my movies to be like a party, like just have fun, even if it's intense or violent or you can still walk in and go that was fun, I had a good time. That's all I care about.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>So do you see a franchise in this a la Bond?</strong></p>
<p>I hope so, yeah, yeah. Just 'cause I love the world, I love the character and I just love having something where I can have her in, a nice setting. I love travel, I love style, I love everything. So it's one of these things that now we can go to these international locations but to do it through a person who, every time they go somewhere is like oh this is really cool versus like a jaded spy showing up like I don't care about this. I love her character because there is still an element of a Midwestern tourist of like, oh my god, I can't believe I'm here. And then you have to stay on point. I think that's fun 'cause that's me every time I go anywhere.</p>Teressa Iezzihttp://www.fastcocreate.com/3047039http://www.fastcocreate.com/3047039/how-paul-feig-busted-genres-and-activated-melissa-mccarthy-in-spy?partner=rss
http://www.fastcocreate.com/3047039/how-paul-feig-busted-genres-and-activated-melissa-mccarthy-in-spy?partner=rss#commentsFri, 05 Jun 2015 10:00 +0000InnovationHow Neil deGrasse Tyson Discovered Manhattanhenge<p>Burger Week aside, there are few more exciting prospects for urban Instagrammers than Manhattanhenge.</p>
<p>The phenomenon is described on the <a href="http://www.amnh.org/our-research/hayden-planetarium/resources/manhattanhenge" target="_blank">Hayden Planetarium web site</a> as: "a special day (that) comes twice a year, when the setting Sun aligns precisely with the Manhattan street grid, creating a radiant glow of light across Manhattan's brick and steel canyons, simultaneously illuminating both the north and south sides of every cross street of the borough's grid."</p>
<figure class="inline-video inline"><iframe height="360" width="640" src="http://www.fastcompany.com/embed/d0935ab796f37?poster=twistage&amp;pos=inline&amp;veggiemode=1" id="videoEmbedTwistage1" class="fastcoVideoEmbed" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></figure>
<p>The person who wrote that description, Neil deGrasse Tyson, knows from celestial events—he's an astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium and all. But his expertise on this topic goes much deeper than that, if you can believe it. See, Tyson is the person who "discovered" and named Manhattanhenge.</p>
<p>We spoke with Tyson recently at his office at the Planetarium about his new NatGeo show, StarTalk (and about brains and creativity and Jon Stewart—please check out the conversation <a href="http://www.fastcocreate.com/3045459/neil-degrasse-tyson-stomps-the-notion-of-left-right-brain-salutes-jon-stewart-and-explains-t" target="_self">here</a>).</p>
<p>He also told us a Creation Story about that time he invented Manhattanhenge. It all started when he was 15 years old and earned a scholarship from The Explorers Club to go on an expedition to study stone monuments. And then, well, the guy tells a good story so we'll let him take it from there.</p>
<p>And if you want to see Manhattanhenge for yourself, below are the best times.</p>
<p><strong>Half Sun on the Grid</strong><br />
Friday, May 29 8:12 P.M. EDT<br />
Monday, July 13 8:21 P.M. EDT<br />
<strong>Full Sun on the Grid</strong><br />
Saturday, May 30 8:12 P.M. EDT<br />
Sunday, July 12 8:20 P.M. EDT</p>Teressa Iezzihttp://www.fastcocreate.com/3046868http://www.fastcocreate.com/3046868/how-neil-degrasse-tyson-discovered-manhattanhenge?partner=rss
http://www.fastcocreate.com/3046868/how-neil-degrasse-tyson-discovered-manhattanhenge?partner=rss#commentsFri, 29 May 2015 16:48 +0000PeopleCreation StoriesThe Story Behind McDonald's Hot, Hipster Hamburglar<p>In the McDonaldland universe, the Hamburglar was always a supporting character at best—a striped-shirted, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgEoJWcXLac" target="_blank">inarticulate</a> Kelly to Ronald's Beyonce.</p>
<p>This week, however, everything changed. McDonald's dropped a bomb in the form of a brand new, incongruously hunky, Hamburglar.</p>
<figure class="inline-tweet inline"><iframe src="/twitframe?url=https://twitter.com/McDonalds/status/596015391429627905" border="0" frameborder="0" height="302.5" width="605" data-tweetId="596015391429627905" data-userHeight="0"></iframe></figure>
<p>Unlike last year's revamp of Ronald McDonald, which gave the clown, essentially, a new outfit, this was a whole cloth re-imagining of a brand icon. The Hamburglar was introduced in the '70s and was best known as a diminutive, ginger bandit—a cartoon character—who co-starred alongside other B players like Grimace, Mayor McCheese and the Fry Guys and who last appeared in McDonald's advertising in 2002. In this new incarnation he's a flesh and blood <em>man</em>, and a suburban father to boot. The man part has not gone unnoticed. When he appeared on McDonald's social channels on May 6, he immediately set the internet's imagination alight. McDonald's had taken the premise, and the uniform—striped shirt, trench, yellow-banded hat, and mask—of the vintage kid-focused character and updated and fitted it to a scruff-sporting, attractive man in his thirties. Judgement was immediate, and generally fell between fascination and fright—the Hamburglar was now more DILF-y <a href="http://www.popphoto.com/sites/popphoto.com/files/import/2009/files/_images/Photographing-the-Watchmen-Movie.jpg" target="_blank">Rorschach</a> than single-toothed scamp—but the overall result was, <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/102655862" target="_blank">as summed up in this news outlet's headline:</a> Twitter went nuts.</p>
<figure class="inline-video inline"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9cIf0P-Vb-U?rel=1&amp;autoplay=0" width="560" height="340" frameborder="0"></iframe></figure>
<p>We chatted with McDonald's VP Marketing Joel Yashinsky to find out more about why and how the company resurrected the Hamburglar in such a striking fashion.</p>
<h2><a name="A_Modern_Progressive_Burglar_For_A_Modern_Progressive_Burger_Company">A Modern, Progressive 'Burglar For A "Modern, Progressive Burger Company"</a></h2>
<p>The Hamburglar redesign has coincided with a period of soul-searching at the fast food chain, amid long stretches of falling sales and broader existential challenges. New CEO Steve Easterbrook this week revealed a vague sketch of a turnaround plan, speaking of an "urgent need to reset this business." And while Easterbrook said the brand would be "challenging conventional wisdom on multiple fronts," he probably wasn't thinking of a beefy new mascot. But the Hamburgler did grow out of a general push toward "modernizing" the company's image on all fronts.</p>
<p>The Hamburglar came out of a brainstorm at agency Golin back in January around marketing McDonald's new Sirloin Third-Pound burger. "As we thought about the product and who the target is (a broad target, but mainly adults 25+) and the affinity that fans have towards memories of our history, and as we also look forward, we wanted to make sure we created a campaign that connected (everything) together," says Yashinsky. The agency proposed resurrecting the character, and he says, "It was something that resonated with us as a potential mark that could hit, and it certainly has."</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//c.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2015/05/3046082-inline-s-3-redesign-of-behind-the-hamburglar-redesign.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p>Yashinsky says there were other design variations on the table, but the handsome dude unveiled this week won out as he was in keeping with McDonald's stated goal of positioning itself as a "modern progressive burger company."</p>
<p>As to the process of approving the radical appearance of the new Hamburglar, Yashinsky says "we had a lot of conversation around that, I'll be honest. We had a lot of discussion about (changing) a McDonaldland character that has a lot of history with people and we thought if we're going to be a modern progressive burger company we have to have fun as a brand and we have to try different things.. We wanted to have some fun thinking about what would bring him back; what would bring him out of retirement, if you will. And this great product fit the character."</p>
<figure class="inline-tweet inline"><iframe src="/twitframe?url=https://twitter.com/McDonalds/status/596281244427497472" border="0" frameborder="0" height="302.5" width="605" data-tweetId="596281244427497472" data-userHeight="0"></iframe></figure>
<h2><a name="The_Next_Phase">The Next Phase</a></h2>
<p>The resulting creation earned <a href="http://www.theverge.com/tldr/2015/5/6/8561361/mcdonalds-hamburglar-dad" target="_blank">mixed reviews</a>, and a lot of them—the effort has been nothing if not buzzworthy. The Hamburglar has been called creepy, hipsterish, and hot (when <em>Jezebel</em> <a href="http://jezebel.com/hey-would-you-have-sex-with-the-new-hamburglar-1702657797" target="_blank">polled</a> its readers to find out if they'd have sex with the Hamburglar, 58% answered in the affirmative, while another 22% chose "Give me a 20-pack of McNuggets and we'll talk"). But surely bangability wasn't what the architects of the Sirloin initiative were going for. Yashinsky just says "we are excited about the response we are getting. There will always be detractors out there, but we're providing this fun element for our fans and advocates To see them respond and get excited about what we're doing and finding it fun and engaging and having some ownership of it is where we want to be." He also notes, "the Hamburglar element from a digital and social standpoint has been going gangbusters to help announce this new burger and build awareness."</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//d.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2015/05/3046082-inline-s-2-redesign-of-behind-the-hamburglar-redesign.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p>And hold on to your burgers, because the character will be resurfacing on social media in the coming days. Yashinsky hints that there will be hijinks afoot, including a possible social media takeover ("we've been getting some secret codes from him where he's been threatening to take over parts of our social engagement; we will be watching that closely," says Yashinsky) and a Periscope execution.</p>
<p>Meanwhile McDonald's is also rolling out a big TV campaign to complement the social activity of the Hamburglar. The brand shot 25 spots with <em>New Girl's</em> Max Greenfield. Those spots, which won't feature the character but which will focus on the three varieties and the time-limited nature of the burger, will start airing next week.</p>Teressa Iezzihttp://www.fastcocreate.com/3046082http://www.fastcocreate.com/3046082/the-story-behind-mcdonalds-hot-hipster-hamburglar?partner=rss
http://www.fastcocreate.com/3046082/the-story-behind-mcdonalds-hot-hipster-hamburglar?partner=rss#commentsFri, 08 May 2015 02:51 +0000InnovationNeil deGrasse Tyson Stomps The Notion Of Left Vs. Right Brain, Salutes Jon Stewart, And Explains The Soul Of Creativity<p>On April 20, National Geographic debuted Neil deGrasse Tyson's latest vehicle, <em><a href="http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/startalk/" target="_blank">Star Talk</a></em>, a TV version of his long-running <a href="http://www.startalkradio.net/" target="_blank">podcast</a> of the same name. The show, like the podcast, mixes science, comedy and pop culture, with Tyson orchestrating a conversation with guests from all of those worlds. The first episode featured an in-depth discussion about life and <em>Star Trek</em> with George Takei, punctuated by banter between Tyson and his guests, comedian Leighann Lord and astrophysicist Charles Liu. Forthcoming episodes will feature guests from Richard Dawkins, astronaut Chris Hadfield and NASA's Charles Bolden to Jimmy Carter, Biz Stone, and Dan Savage (watch Tyson interrogate monogamy with Savage <a href="http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/startalk/episodes/star-talk-107/" target="_blank">on the show's web previews</a>).</p>
<p>Even with all of those diverse guests, <em>Star Talk</em> gets its dynamic pace and broad scope, of course, from Tyson, who has emerged not just as America's best known Tweeting astrophysicist, but our society's ambassador for Being Interested in Life. There are few media personalities who inspire the particular kind, and level, of public affection Tyson does, and practically no scientists who have become bona fide social media stars.</p>
<p>Tyson has eared his fans with his excitable erudition, his mellifluous delivery and enthusiasm for engaging in science-infused pop culture debates. But perhaps the main reason Tyson's been so successful as a crossover artist is simply authenticity—his quotable exclamations are real; they come from his passion for science. He uses Twitter and the media fame to boost the science, not the other way around. (It should be noted that while team Fast Company was waiting in Tyson's office at the Hayden Planetarium before our interview, Tyson could be heard in another room talking actual physics.)</p>
<p>When we sat down to talk to Tyson about <em>Star Talk</em>, naturally we couldn't help veering into other areas, and that's perfectly in keeping with Tyson's M.O. Watch the videos below for his takes on curiosity, the credibility of the right brain / left brain construct, the unique talent of Jon Stewart, the nature of creativity, and the state of science in America.</p>
<h2><a name="We_Should_All_Build_Libraries_Of_Thought_For_Ourselves">"We Should All Build Libraries Of Thought For Ourselves"</a></h2>
<p>Tyson seems preternaturally gifted at combining art—a flair for language and presentation—with science. But he's been working at it since his youth. Caring about words, he says, goes back to an early job he had writing a science Q&amp;A for <em>Star Date</em> magazine when he was in his twenties (so yes, he does write his own tweets, thanks). But he also talks about a lesson learned when he was a kid walking into a library and realizing that "A well stocked library has to have everything, essentially. Ever since then I've made that an analogy for life."</p>
<p>"Not enough people reach out to everything around them," he says. "The more you know, the more you are empowered to make connections that no one else thought to do... I think that's the soul of creativity."</p>
<figure class="inline-video inline">
<iframe height="360" width="640" src="http://www.fastcompany.com/embed/0598f49b36eac?poster=twistage&amp;pos=inline&amp;veggiemode=1" id="videoEmbedTwistage1" class="fastcoVideoEmbed" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
</figure>
<h2><a name="Im_Brained_How_About_That_Or_Do_NOT_Come_At_This_Scientist_With_Labels">"I'm 'Brained.' How About That?" (Or Do NOT Come At This Scientist With Labels)</a></h2>
<p>Is the accepted notion of the right brain / left brain dichotomy scientifically sound? "I'm disappointed with some aspects of civilization," answers Tyson. "One is our unending urge to bypass subtlety of character, thought, and expression and just categorize people ... If you want to understand who and what a person is, have a conversation with him."</p>
<p>There's one label he'll take he says: "I'm a scientist. It says a lot about how my brains is wired, how I think, my curiosity, my wonder... When I want to judge what it is I can accomplish, I look to, 'What have human beings accomplished?' That's what I use as my reference for what I'm capable of as a human being. Don't call me left brain / right brain. Call me human."</p>
<figure class="inline-video inline">
<iframe height="360" width="640" src="http://www.fastcompany.com/embed/409c25a7ea735?poster=twistage&amp;pos=inline&amp;veggiemode=1" id="videoEmbedTwistage2" class="fastcoVideoEmbed" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" data-disableInlineAutoplay="true"></iframe>
</figure>
<h2><a name="The_Driver_Of_OptimismInventing_A_Better_Tomorrow_">The Driver Of Optimism—Inventing A Better Tomorrow</a></h2>
<p>Despite facts that much be disheartening to a scientist (42% of Americans don't really believe in evolution), Tyson almost always presents as optimistic on the future of humanity, in his public appearances. "As an educator, I'd be remiss if i didn't share with whoever will listen what the value is of being scientifically and technologically literate. I'd feel like I was failing in some duty as a citizen of the world if I didn't share that enthusiasm with others ... It's that enthusiasm that empowers you to invent a better tomorrow."</p>
<figure class="inline-video inline">
<iframe height="360" width="640" src="http://www.fastcompany.com/embed/458f1db2ff337?poster=twistage&amp;pos=inline&amp;veggiemode=1" id="videoEmbedTwistage3" class="fastcoVideoEmbed" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" data-disableInlineAutoplay="true"></iframe>
</figure>
<h2><a name="How_Jon_Stewart_Inspired_His_Hosting">How Jon Stewart Inspired His Hosting</a></h2>
<p>The format of <em>Star Talk</em> presents its host with a significant challenge—juggling topics and personalities from comedy to astrophysics, literally, and dialing the pop culture and hard science up or down as needed, depending on the flow and tone of conversation. "I think of them as threads that are stitched together into a quilt so by the end of the show you are warmed by this quilt we've made," he says. And if he has a model from the world of talk show hosts, it's Jon Stewart. "No matter who he is interviewing at no point do you say he is showcasing himself. He's smart, clever, funny but the vector never goes back to him. <em>Star Talk</em> is not about me. It's about science, smiling, and the pop culture being brought to the table by a guest. If it's about me, I've failed."</p>
<figure class="inline-video inline">
<iframe height="360" width="640" src="http://www.fastcompany.com/embed/8c791929cb645?poster=twistage&amp;pos=inline&amp;veggiemode=1" id="videoEmbedTwistage4" class="fastcoVideoEmbed" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" data-disableInlineAutoplay="true"></iframe>
</figure>Teressa Iezzihttp://www.fastcocreate.com/3045459http://www.fastcocreate.com/3045459/neil-degrasse-tyson-stomps-the-notion-of-left-right-brain-salutes-jon-stewart-and-explains-t?partner=rss
http://www.fastcocreate.com/3045459/neil-degrasse-tyson-stomps-the-notion-of-left-right-brain-salutes-jon-stewart-and-explains-t?partner=rss#commentsFri, 01 May 2015 10:00 +0000InnovationDove Is Really Reaching With This New Stunt That Forces Women To Label Themselves "Average" Or "Beautiful"<p>Oh, Dove. It's time to get real.</p>
<figure class="inline-video inline"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7DdM-4siaQw?rel=1&amp;autoplay=0" width="560" height="340" frameborder="0"></iframe></figure>
<p>The message the brand started out with—the one where Dove took decades' worth of beauty advertising that treated women like objects to be fixed, and turned it on itself—is turning into something less than empowering.</p>
<p>The early iterations of the "Real Beauty" campaign were thought-provoking and buzz-gathering experiments that brought a new tension and a new debate into advertising: the inaugural ad, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U" target="_blank">"Evolution,"</a> launched a thousand criticisms of image manipulation in the beauty industry. With subsequent installments, like <a href="http://www.fastcocreate.com/1682823/the-story-behind-doves-mega-viral-real-beauty-sketches-campaign" target="_self">Real Beauty Sketches</a>, the campaign drew criticism along with plaudits—here is a platform, after all, that speaks of broadening the definition of beauty, and yet implicitly argues that physical beauty is paramount—but the core message of empowerment still felt genuine, and it was delivered with style.</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//d.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2015/04/3044850-inline-i-2-dove-is-really-reaching-with-this-new-stunt-that-forces-women-to-walk-through-doors-marked-a.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p>Lately, as the campaign ages, and as the rest of the brand world has upped the ante with female-positive linkbait, Dove ads seem to just be using women as props, insulting rather than serving them (see: the "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGDMXvdwN5c" target="_blank">Beauty Patch"</a> spot wherein women are "tricked" with a placebo medicinal patch they are told will make them more beautiful). As the campaign progresses, each new iteration feels more forced and stunty than the last, and, again, each feels like it's putting women in the exact spot that "Real Beauty" was meant to release them from—feeling like their entire existence is about physical beauty. Feel beautiful dammit! What's wrong with you??</p>
<p>Now, it's likely that a lot of these candid-reaction type commercials are really staged. But let's just go with the assumption that this really is real—that these are actual, random women, just going about their day and then confronting this very public, made-up dichotomy: am I "beautiful," or am I just "average"?</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//e.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2015/04/3044850-inline-i-1-dove-is-really-reaching-with-this-new-stunt-that-forces-women-to-walk-through-doors-marked-a.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p>Any available scenario is icky. Maybe there are women here who had the audacity to never feel the need to define themselves based on how they look and now they have to face this humiliating choice. Or maybe there are women who do have issues and insecurities with their looks in which case—thanks! Or maybe many of these women really do think of themselves as "beautiful," whatever that means, (and the spot mainly includes conventionally attractive women—looks like we're just leaving the "average" women out of it), and just didn't want to feel like jerks by choosing the "beautiful" door.</p>
<p>This is to say nothing of the fact that, as with the "Beauty Patch," the whole premise—aided by cloying executional notes—feels infantilizing.</p>
<p>In the end, the best thing that happens in this spot is at 1:47, when one heroine looks at the door choices, and seems to say, "fuck this," and turns around.</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//g.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2015/04/3044850-inline-i-3-dove-is-really-reaching-with-this-new-stunt-that-forces-women-to-walk-through-doors-marked-a.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p>A message of self-acceptance is absolutely welcome—it's needed—in advertising. And sticking with a big marketing platform long-term is a rare and excellent thing. Dove should be applauded for that, and the fact that clear, concise insights (and short briefs) drive its communications.</p>
<p>But maybe Dove needs to step back and stop trying to top itself, and reassess how the message behind Real Beauty can best be conveyed, in a way that's more...real.</p>Teressa Iezzihttp://www.fastcocreate.com/3044850http://www.fastcocreate.com/3044850/dove-is-really-reaching-with-this-new-stunt-that-forces-women-to-walk-through-doors-marked-a?partner=rss
http://www.fastcocreate.com/3044850/dove-is-really-reaching-with-this-new-stunt-that-forces-women-to-walk-through-doors-marked-a?partner=rss#commentsWed, 08 Apr 2015 21:32 +0000Innovation72andSunny Takes An Integrated Approach With New Brand Citizenship Practice<p><a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/3039594/most-innovative-companies-2015/72andsunny" target="_self">72andSunny</a>, a leading creative agency, known for its work for Samsung, Google, Activision and others, has launched a brand citizenship practice headed by Jim Moriarty, a former tech exec who spent 10 years running the non-profit, <a href="http://www.surfrider.org/" target="_blank">Surfrider Foundation</a>.</p>
<p>The agency isn't the first to address brands' social and environmental efforts. But its approach is notable for a few reasons: it aims to take "good" out of its CSR silo and make it a core marketing concern, tying it to cultural impact—a particular specialty of 72andSunny—and to business results. Brand citizenship will also be integrated into client briefs from the outset, instead of being an add-on. In this way, social good follows the path of digital, social and content—things once thought of as channels or departments, that are now mindsets that inform the whole creative project.</p>
<p>Anecdotal social media evidence, and research, do indicate that more consumers are concerned about what's in that burger/phone/sneaker they're about to buy and the ethics of the company that made it, and that those concerns translate into purchase decisions.</p>
<figure class="inline-small inline">
<img src="//b.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-small/inline/2015/03/3044014-inline-i-2-72andsunny-takes-an-integrated-approach-with-new-brand-citizenship-focus.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Jim Moriarty</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Several studies echo the findings of a 2014 Nielsen report that reveals that 55% of respondents are willing to pay more for socially responsible products, and that the majority of people check product packaging for indicators of sustainable practices (in <a href="http://www.fastcoexist.com/1681734/consumers-care-about-buying-from-socially-responsible-brands-now-more-than-ever" target="_self">another study,</a> 60% of people said that buying goods from socially responsible companies is important to them).</p>
<p>As a result, more corporations—especially those without an obvious social-good link or legacy—are taking a harder look at connecting "citizenship" (a label used here to incorporate social and environmental acts and policies) with the buying behavior of consumers. In other words, brands are acting on the growing realization that doing good, like being creative, is not just about optics, it's about business results.</p>
<p>And, as brands' social-good activities increase, the challenges grow too—to integrate social good and marketing in an authentic way, to make something that makes sense, that inspires talk and action, not crickets and contempt, and to make something that works.</p>
<p>At 72andSunny, Moriarty and brand citizenship will be embedded in three of the agency's brand teams at launch (likely Google, Samsung and Tilamook), and within each brand brief from the outset. We spoke with Moriarty and 72 CEO John Boiler to talk about the new practice and about brand citizenship as marketing mandate now.</p>
<p><strong>Fast Company: Jim, why did you decide to lead this new practice at the agency? </strong></p>
<p>Jim Moriarty: Before Surfrider, I was in technology companies—large ones like SAP and small ones. I was somewhat the unlikely person to run Surfrider and the reason they picked me was because of my expertise and experience in technology. I spent a decade at Surfrider and I saw a few trends. A lot of the people I saw showing up were skewing toward the demographic that people label as millennials. ANd I think there's an important nuance there because we're not just talking about quote unquote millennials. It's actually all these people who have embraced technology and transparency as kind of an extension of their daily lives. They are very aware, they are vocal, and they're advocates and activists. I also saw that the fastest growing revenue line was corporate partnerships. And the interesting thing there was that we were saying no to 70-plus percent of those opportunities. Non profits trade on reputation and brand and you can't cheapen that. What I saw in the partners we worked with was how do it well and how not to do it well. The short version is that there are two million non-profits in the US. They have amazing stories. And then you have corporations that have scale and they need that deeper engagement. So bringing the two together makes sense. But what I was missing was the X factor. It's not enough to have a great story and ability to scale that story. It sounds like it should be but it's not. What's really needed is ability to shape and connect that with culture. And that's what 72's DNA is. This not about CSR. It's leaning into the brand and going deeper with the customer—essentially, companies trying to provide richer lives for consumers, but having that connect directly to their brands.</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//e.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2015/03/3044014-inline-i-1-72andsunny-takes-an-integrated-approach-with-new-brand-citizenship-focus.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p><strong>What does this look like at 72? How will the brand citizenship practice work, and where will it sit in the agency?</strong></p>
<p>John Boiler: At the heart of it, our whole premise is: we make a huge impact in culture on behalf of the brands we work with. We take that seriously. When we looked at the stuff we've done over last year or two, especially when you take the media buy out—the stuff that's made a great impact in culture—a lot of those moments have been around philanthropic or brand citizenship components. Like Google's <a href="http://www.72andsunny.com/work/google-and-made-with-code/the-holidays-are-made-with-code/overview" target="_blank">Made With Code</a> (a Google initiative to inspire more girls to start coding ) and all the way back to the Benetton campaign (the agency's <a href="http://www.72andsunny.com/work/benetton/unhate" target="_blank">"Unhate"</a> project ). We recognize that we do have a good hit rate of making an impact in culture when we attach a brand to a cause in a meaningful and authentic way, and use our creativity to amplify that connection.</p>
<p>JM: There isn't a band citizenship department. We're not building a staff out. It's embedding in the (teams). And what I'm really doing is helping the teams themselves to come up with these ideas to extend the brand to drive the business.</p>
<figure class="inline-video inline"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7FlzFH9xOF8?rel=1&amp;autoplay=0" width="560" height="340" frameborder="0"></iframe></figure>
<p><strong>So the crux here is taking brands' social/environmental good elements and making it part of their marketing. Why is that important?</strong></p>
<p>JM: It's a critical difference. And Matt Jarvis (72 partner and chief strategy officer) has distilled it down to a few words: it's offense not defense. I've been in the non profit sector and I've seen companies lobbing money over a wall to feel good or because it's a pet project of the CEO or it's an extension of the CSR department. It has very little influence on the brand, or they have little budget a lot of the time. And while all a lot of those initiatives under CSR are good—its good to green your supply chain—-they're not necessarily connected to the brand. And that's the offense piece. It's not just that businesses can change the the world, it's via consumers.</p>
<p><strong>As mentioned, there have been a lot of studies that show that people—"millennials" especially—use a company's social and environmental record to inform product buying. Do you see this borne out in reality? A lot of people bought iPhones over the years—and there wasn't always a particularly compelling social/environmental story there… </strong></p>
<p>JM: First of all, under Tim Cooke Apple is doing a lot of positive and amazing thing—they invested $3 billion in solar; the first week he was in office he opened a lot of employee giving. programs. Even the companies we could use as examples of what not to do they are embracing this on a pretty big level.</p>
<p>But I do think the answer is yes. I think its interesting that there's almost an innate cynicism—we disbelieve trends that are happening in front of our eyes. Eyeglasses as an example were invented 700 years ago and Warby Parker was just valued at over a billion dollars. There's not a lot of innovation there—there are no wireless connections, or new features—its a story; it's an identity. That's what I'm seeing on a very large scale. What the internet has done is it's driven transparency and access. And what mobile has done is put that in our pockets. So wherever we are—we walk up to a food truck, say—and we not only have access, we have ratings, live. I think that transfers to Coach, Apple and every other brand out there. So I think a massive shift has taken place.</p>
<figure class="inline-video inline"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/S14QJcI4KNs?rel=1&amp;autoplay=0" width="560" height="340" frameborder="0"></iframe></figure>
<p><strong>There has been an uptick in the number of brands creating sort of social good-leaning ads, whether they have a clear social good story or not. What's the effect of this—on one hand it seems like a step forward but does this make people jaded? What do you think of the work that's been done so far, and how will your approach differ?</strong></p>
<p>JM: With every trend there are awkward first attempts. I was at Surfrider when green became trendy. And you saw awkward first steps—like Coke putting green labels on Dasani bottles. I think we should expect awkward first attempts across the board but the wonderful part in my mind is, I tend to look at things five years out, and I think all these things will be shaped by consumers. So if consumers push back, especially on global public companies, those companies will get smarter and their out-of-beta approach will get tighter and more meaningful.</p>
<p>One of the things I've seen, and Patagonia offers a good example of this is, is that people sometimes talk about the idea of taking on an issue and since they have a business approach, they think success equals solving that issue—down to zero. Like Bill Gates and malaria—in that example it may be possible to eradicate that disease. But what I think might be a more sound approach for corporations is to look at these initiatives like a journey—a journey with that common thread. Patagonia will never completely solve the environmental issues we're facing. But they do have that ethic so deeply ingrained—that project like "Worn Wear" even if they are awkward in their first attempts, they resonate within the larger journey umbrella. That's where the success is—figuring out what the umbrella message is—where are we going, what is this journey—and then iterating on that.</p>
<p>JB: When you look at the way brands do corporate citizenship, it's often been part of the defensive posture of PR. It was used defensively; it wasn't growing brand love or loyalty with this emerging audience of younger people who are into seeing transparency and authenticity in brands' behavior. So we thought before brands fuck up the idea of doing the right thing, let's flip this. So the most authentic cause that's most directly attached to the engine of the company, lets make it so it's a no brainer. So that anytime a consumer or fan learns that "oh this brand is doing cause y," they should go "oh of course." Another thing we've seen is brands doing one-offs—it hurts brands because people think oh, you're greenwashing this season be you're having a bad time with the greenies. Our point of view is that hurts the brands and it hurts the cause. The only way these causes can do good in the world is by having a perpetual presence, a steady drum beat. And to be that, you have to be self sustained—it should also should be selling widgets.</p>
<figure class="inline-video inline"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/x6Tm_AC17w0?rel=1&amp;autoplay=0" width="560" height="340" frameborder="0"></iframe></figure>
<p><strong>You mention thinking five years out. So, five or 10 years from now, will this be the norm—will brands across every category will have this built in?</strong></p>
<p>JM: I think there will be leaders and laggards. You have geographic nuance—South Korea for example will act different than China and the US. But I think that what we'll see is short term financial returns—quarter on quarter investments and returns for stockholders—start to take on a slightly longer view tied to market capitalization and those things tied to the value of the brand. Because if you trade on products and features, and all you're trying to do is make this quarter's numbers...there are a lot of examples of roadkill out there that suggest that's not enough. You need a larger story. Some people will care a lot about that early on, and some people will care less, but it's a trend that's growing.</p>Teressa Iezzihttp://www.fastcocreate.com/3044014http://www.fastcocreate.com/3044014/72andsunny-takes-an-integrated-approach-with-new-brand-citizenship-practice?partner=rss
http://www.fastcocreate.com/3044014/72andsunny-takes-an-integrated-approach-with-new-brand-citizenship-practice?partner=rss#commentsThu, 19 Mar 2015 16:51 +0000InnovationThese Spectacular Aerial Photos Of Las Vegas Actually Are Like Nothing You've Seen Before <p>Like many of the city's entertainers, Las Vegas is perhaps best seen from a distance. And now we know the ideal distance: 10,000 feet—straight up.</p>
<p>Photographer <a href="http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/" target="_blank">Vincent Laforet</a> ascended 10,800 feet in a helicopter (or 8,799 feet above the city itself, which is 2,001 feet above sea level), to capture the images in the <a href="https://www.storehouse.co/stories/r1qx6-air-sin-city-10-8k" target="_blank">"AIR: Sin City 10.8K"</a> series, shown here.</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//e.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2015/02/3042258-inline-s-13-las-vegas-aerials.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Las Vegas</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It's the second time the Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer has hovered over a city at night to create images so detailed and colorful that they become almost unreal. Laforet made waves earlier this year with a similar series of <a href="https://www.storehouse.co/stories/r3rcy-air-gotham-7-5k" target="_blank">aerial shots of New York</a>. That series originally came out of a commission from <em>Men's Health Magazine</em>, but the idea for the photos has been sitting in Laforet's imagination a very long time. "I've been seeing these pictures since I was 13 years old, landing at JFK and looking at that grid," says Laforet. "I knew I really wanted to shoot that someday." But, he says, the reality was, existing technology wouldn't translate the images as he saw them.</p>
<p>Part of the wonder of the Las Vegas and New York photos is that, according to Laforet, people are seeing something they haven't really seen before—no photographer has ever shot a city from this height at night. No existing camera had a sensor sensitive enough to capture the images as he saw them in low light until very recently (Laforet captured these images with a "Canon 1Dx and a Phase One Credo 50 MP body, each set to 6400 ISO").</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//f.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2015/02/3042258-inline-s-2-new-york-aerials.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>New York</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In addition to that leap in photographic technology, the photos' impact—particularly their striking blues—is the result of the shift from sodium tungsten (which created more of an orange light) to LED lighting in cities. "With the high ISO cameras, the sensors see more than the eye can see—you're seeing these colors that are always there but the eye corrects for," Laforet says. And the images you see are pretty much what the camera saw—Laforet says there was no significant manipulation involved.</p>
<p>The process of capturing the photos was harrowing, involving a harnessed Laforet hanging out of an open helicopter door over the twinkly abyss, but the shots are intended to convey a benign feeling about the cities we all share. "When you're on ground level in New York, it's really intimidating," Laforet says. "You feel small. But from the air, New York looks small; it looks within grasp. The lights feel like energy, people gravitate toward it. Whether you're thinking about it consciously or not, you feel we're all in this together; we're all connected. That's why he says the series is called "Air"—"we're all responsible for it."</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//g.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2015/02/3042258-inline-s-2-las-vegas-aerials.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Vincent Laforet<span class="credit">Photo: Dustin Snipes</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And Laforet intends for that communal feeling to extend to the next phase of Air. The Las Vegas photos represent the second step in building what Laforet hopes will be not just a global aerial tour, yielding more stunning shots, but a content sharing platform that will bring together creators from around the world.</p>
<p>Laforet had been talking to Mark Kawano, founder and CEO of Storehouse for the past few years, and when the New York series took off after Laforet posted the shots there, the wave of interest generated enough momentum, and money, for him to plan five more shoots in U.S. Cities. Laforet and friends have been talking to potential sponsors about a global series—starting in Europe—and Laforet wants to invite other creators to submit their own visions of the city, for a platform that will exist online and IRL.</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//g.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2015/02/3042258-inline-s-11-las-vegas-aerials.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption><span class="credit">Photo: Dustin Snipes</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>"I've always been a teacher and I like to pay it forward," says Laforet. "I'd like this to grow into something grander than a book and gallery show." While it's early stages, Laforet sees a multi-tier platform where people can contribute works on their own city—from photo essays to recipes—that will be shared online, and will form the basis of live meetups and events in each city. "And hopefully, one of their projects will strike," says Laforet.</p>
<p>See more of Laforet's work on <a href="https://www.storehouse.co/stories/r1qx6-air-sin-city-10-8k" target="_blank">Storehouse</a>.</p>Teressa Iezzihttp://www.fastcocreate.com/3042258http://www.fastcocreate.com/3042258/these-spectacular-aerial-photos-of-las-vegas-actually-are-like-nothing-youve-seen-before?partner=rss
http://www.fastcocreate.com/3042258/these-spectacular-aerial-photos-of-las-vegas-actually-are-like-nothing-youve-seen-before?partner=rss#commentsWed, 11 Feb 2015 03:41 +0000InnovationInfinite Atlas: A Location-Based Visualization Of A Literary Masterpiece<p>David Foster Wallace fans: Put down your copy of D.T. Max's newly released biography of the writer, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Every-Love-Story-Is-Ghost/dp/0670025925" target="_blank"><em>Every Love Story Is A Ghost Story</em></a> and click immediately on <a href="http://infiniteatlas.com/" target="_blank">Infinite Atlas.</a> Non-fans, stop whatever it is you're doing and do the same.</p>
<p>Infinite Atlas is, in the simplest terms, "an independent research and art project seeking to identify, place and describe every possible location in David Foster Wallace's <em>Infinite Jest.</em>" In broader terms, it's an infinitely absorbing marriage of literature and rich location-based data.</p>
<p>The map is the work of Washington-based writer, and dedicated <em>Infinite Jest</em> fan, William Beutler.</p>
<p>Beutler actually launched the project earlier this year in the form of Infinite Boston, a blog-based photographic tour of locations that figure into DFW's complex study of life, addiction, depression, failed entertainment, and tennis. At the time Beutler wrote: "In July of what might have been Year of Glad, one year ago this week, I traveled to Boston, Massachusetts with the express purpose of visiting as many of the landmarks and lesser known precincts that appear in, or provide inspiration for, the late David Foster Wallace's 1996 novel <em>Infinite Jest</em> as I could manage on a Thursday-Sunday trip. My reasons for doing so will become apparent at a later date, but for now I am pleased to present what I am calling Infinite Boston: a ruminative travelogue and photographic tour of some fifty or so of these locations, comprising one entry each non-holiday weekday, from now until sometime in early autumn."</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline"><img src="//f.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/cocreate/imagecache/inline-large/post-inline/inline-1-Infinite-Atlas.jpg" alt=""/></figure>
<p>That later date has arrived and we now have the Infinite Atlas, a mind-bendingly detailed Google Maps-based compendium of over 600 <em>IJ</em> locations. Visitors can click on the map to reveal details about each location from the novel, in many cases including quotes, as well as where the site appears in the book and which characters are associated with it (and Beutler hasn't just covered off your A-list places, like Enfield Tennis Academy and Ennet House. To wit: the listing for Marty's Liquors, "Which Gately drives past in Pat Montesian's black 1964 Ford Aventura"). Locations can also be discovered via search, and through a comprehensive lists of characters (again, we're not just talking about Hal Incandenza and Michael Pemulis—the list includes everyone down to "the Watertown, NY boy who owned Ward and June, progenitors of the Concavity's feral hamsters") and story threads. Fans are also encouraged to submit photographs of the locations.</p>
<p>The project also includes a poster version of <em>IJ</em> sites, the Infinite Map, available for purchase <a href="http://shop.infiniteatlas.com/" target="_blank">here</a>. The map depicts the novel's "territorially reconfigured North America" and features 250 of its most interesting locations (as well as the Great Seal of O.N.A.N., pictured above).</p>
<p>Beutler, who had worked as a political journalist and is now a communications consultant, says the project has been four years in the making. "I re-read <em>Infinite Jest</em> after Wallace's passing, and became obsessed with the idea that there was a way to treat Infinite Jest as a very large data set," he says. "It turned out that others had done so previously, the designer <a href="http://sampottsinc.com/ij/" target="_blank">Sam Potts</a> in particular, but with a primary focus on the relationship between characters. So I didn't want to retrace that route. Meanwhile, I was influenced by friends involved in cartography, and I've always found maps to be fascinating, so both of these things pushed me in this direction."</p>
<p>At first, a map of locations was just one of many ideas, he says. "At one point I was going to include box scores for the Enfield Tennis Academy players, but the further I got into research, the more I realized how much more there was to do with geography."</p>
<p>The scope of the project meant Beutler brought in a number of creative partners, including agency JESS3 and DC web development company RedEdge, which helped bring the interactive map to life.</p>
<figure class="inline-small inline"><img src="//f.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/cocreate/imagecache/inline-small/post-inline/inline-Infinite-Atlas.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>
</figcaption></figure>
<p>When it came to compiling the project's staggering volume of data, Beutler had additional help. "A lot of the early research was compiled by a friend from back to college, named Olly Ruff, who had also first read <em>Infinite Jest</em> years ago," he says. "We each spent dozens of hours combing through the book, page-by-page, in late 2010 to make sure that we missed nothing, and to argue about what was where and what was the significance. We had those conversations right up to the point where we had to send it off to the printer. The early information architecture was done by another friend, Lyzi Diamond, who had recently earned a degree in Geography from the University of Oregon. Our eventual cartographer was Derek Watkins, who is now a graphics editor at the New York Times."</p>
<p>As for Beutler's plans for the project, he says, "I'm really hoping to get readers to upload photographs of locations that I haven't visited—and considering the scope of the project is global, that's still most places. Otherwise, there are still some details to correct—our database is very good, but not free of noise—so that will take me some time to iron out the details. Even as I say that, I think the site is about 95% correct. It always takes a lot more effort to improve from there, but I'm just enough perfectionist, and just enough a fan of <em>Infinite Jest</em> to stick with it."</p>Teressa Iezzihttp://www.fastcocreate.com/1681555http://www.fastcocreate.com/1681555/infinite-atlas-a-location-based-visualization-of-a-literary-masterpiece?partner=rss
http://www.fastcocreate.com/1681555/infinite-atlas-a-location-based-visualization-of-a-literary-masterpiece?partner=rss#commentsMon, 26 Jan 2015 18:47 +0000dataInfinite Jestlocation-basedTechnologyPunchdrunk's Felix Barrett Brings Theater To Life, Literally<p>
<figure class="inline-large"><img src="http://images.fastcompany.com/upload/610-black-diamond.jpg" alt="" width="610" height="300" /></figure>
</p>
<p>Among the countless gifts of the smartphone age, one of the most precious (and mainly illusory) is control—GPS-assisted, carefully curated, algorithmically filtered, "friend"-approved control, which means never having to be lost again.
</p>
<p>
Felix Barrett would like to blow that notion to hell, using the unlikely weapon of theater. "You don't need to have an opinion anymore; everyone will have it for you," says Barrett. "So what we try to do is make experiences that are about the individual having to get out there and stake their claim. We're not going to tell you how to do it, you need to put the work in and uncover the secret yourself."
</p>
<p>
Barrett is the founder and artistic director of London-based theater company <a href="http://www.punchdrunk.org.uk/" target="_blank">Punchdrunk</a>, creator of <em>Sleep No More,</em> an acclaimed interactive interpretation of Macbeth. Through Punchdrunk, Barrett has sought to create experiences that challenge audiences to physically interact with a narrative, and that push the idea of entertainment into a more primal place, where a show becomes a thing that happens to you because of decisions you make, not just something you watch passively. The company's next few projects, including Punchdrunk Travel—yes, travel— will push audience interaction further, all but eliminating the line between theater and real life. The result may be discomfiting, but, Barrett hopes, ultimately rewarding, leaving participants with something priceless: an actual, real-life experience and a great story to tell.
</p>
<p>
Since Barrett launched Punchdrunk in 2000, the company has created over 20 interactive, immersive projects. Shows have combined elements of traditional theater, dance, art installation, and cinema with astonishing levels of art direction and "the poetry of spaces" to provide an open-ended experience for ticket buyers, who take an active part in exploring the story.
</p>
<p>
The company gained recognition in the U.K. for productions such as <em>It Felt Like a Kiss</em>, for which Punchdrunk partnered with Blur frontman Damon Albarn and filmmaker Adam Curtis; it revived the dark spirit of Edgar Allan Poe for <em>The Masque of the Red Death</em>; and partnered with the writers of BBC TV series <em>Dr. Who</em> for the ongoing children's show <em>The Crash of The Elysium</em>. But Barrett and company are perhaps most famous for <em>Sleep No More</em>, which has been staged in unusual spaces in London and Boston and is running in New York through September 5. The New York edition of the show, directed by Barrett and partner Maxine Doyle, takes place in a vast Chelsea warehouse space which has been transformed into the moody, 1930s-era McKittrick Hotel. Audiences are required to wear Venetian beak masks while they explore six floors and 100 spaces, all set designed with staggering detail by Barrett, Livi Vaughan, and Beatrice Minns. Participants literally follow the story by tracking players as they move from scene to scene. As Barrett would have it, the experience is solitary, as one way or another, participants find themselves separated from their companions.
</p>
<p>
In July, Punchdrunk produced its third brand-backed project, <em><a href="http://www.stellaartois.com/black/" target="_self">The Black Diamond</a></em>, and is currently at work on a show for Sony Playstation. The new shows represent increased collaboration with brands, but they also represent a new level of involvement for audience members, an exploration of immersion that will reach its pinnacle with Punchdrunk Travel.
</p>
<p>
The travel initiative will launch in September, and while Barrett is keeping many of the details under wraps for now, he says the new venture is the purest distillation of the Punchdrunk ethos—making the audience the center of the action.
</p>
<p>
The idea behind Travel is that audience members, or travelers (those with control issues and the agoraphobic are advised to look away now) will arrive at the airport, set to embark on a journey without knowing where they are going or what will happen when they get there. Punchdrunk will organize a theatrical experience around the brave participant; the trip, and by extension, life, is the show. "The idea is that your life becomes a theatrical wonderland," says Barrett. "Everything is centered around you, whether you're in the streets, or sitting in a cafe or whatever you're doing you're lost inside the show. It'll be difficult if not impossible to pinpoint the exact place where the show stops and the real world continues."
</p>
<p>
Clearly, partaking of the full Travel experience will require a considerable investment of time and money, but the company is exploring more accessible ways in.<br />
"We're trying to make it scalable so whatever you can afford you can get a taste of it," says Barrett.
</p>
<p>
Taking immersive theater on the road is just the most extreme manifestation of Barrett's core mission and the latest project to challenge Punchdrunk's classification as a theater company. "I would still call Punchdrunk a theater company, because I suppose everything we do is inherently theatrical," says Barrett. "But it doesn't have to read as theater. A lot of what we are excited about is heightening real life—how can you feel as though you're the hero of your own movie. It's tricky, though, because we're most excited about the cross fertilization of disciplines. If you can define it too easily you probably haven't gone far enough."
</p>
<p>
Punchdrunk's current production of <em>The Black Diamond</em>, created in conjunction with Stella Artois and agency Mother London, augurs the more participatory, audience-as-actor direction.<br />
The show, Punchdrunk's second for the beer brand, is a seven-part interactive experience based on a noir-ish story of love and thievery set in 1960s Paris (the theme speaks to Stella's '60s-chic ad campaigns of recent years). Audiences start off at an apartment party in Shoreditch and then follow the story online and in venues across the city.
</p>
<p>
The new Playstation project, launching August 31 in London, will take the audience-as-player angle further and will represent a dedicated exploration of game mechanics in theater. It would be easy to look at much of Punchdrunk's work through a gamification lens, but Barrett says only now is the company really exploring the potential of applying game principles to the theatrical form. Barrett has included game elements in shows before, most significantly in <em>Masque of the Red Death</em>, but he felt that the theatrical show and the game were conflicting elements, and he is keen to focus exclusively on the unique aspects of games and what happens when you take them outside of their traditional sphere.
</p>
<p>
"In terms of giving the audience characters so they have a real role to play... Playstation wanted us to push that," says Barrett. "To figure out what would be the next step. So we get to do one of the things we've wanted to do for ages, which is to take the different rules and formulae of games and apply them to theater." All the threat-laden, tension-filled fun of a video game will be magnified when it's actually happening to you, says Barrett. "It will be a proper study on fear and the audience as player, as viewer and as character," he says. "It'll be very frightening as well."
</p>
<p>
Punchdrunk approaches brand projects as a kind of well-funded R&amp;D lab, a chance to push its own work , and take a creatively game brand along. "We only work with brands that share the same ideology," says Barrett. "It's all about what's the most exciting project that the two collaborating forces can create; it has to push us creatively and push the brand a bit out of its comfort zone."</p>
<p>
Outside of the brand initiatives, Punchdrunk is working on its next major London show, which will be "on a completely different scale," says Barrett, "almost a different form."<br />
But the essence is the same—creating an experience that acts as "a counterpoint to the communal, the mass produced, the homogenized."<br />
"We don't want people to say 'I went to the theater last night,'" says Barrett. "We want them to say, 'this happened to me last night.'"
</p>
Teressa Iezzihttp://www.fastcocreate.com/1679201http://www.fastcocreate.com/1679201/punchdrunks-felix-barrett-brings-theater-to-life-literally?partner=rss
http://www.fastcocreate.com/1679201/punchdrunks-felix-barrett-brings-theater-to-life-literally?partner=rss#commentsFri, 23 Jan 2015 18:22 +0000co.createeditors picksFelix BarrettPunchdrunkSleep No MoreStella ArtoisTechnologyTake An Extended, Mouth-Watering Look At "Better Call Saul"<p><em>Star Wars</em> excepted, no other entertainment prequel/sequel/spinoff has generated the same kind and intensity of giddy, nervous anticipation as <em>Better Call Saul.</em></p>
<p><em>Breaking Bad</em> creator Vince Gilligan hinted in 2012, and confirmed in 2013, that he'd make a new show around Albuquerque's go-to lawyer Saul Goodman, made immortal by <a href="http://www.fastcocreate.com/3036858/master-class/9-serious-lessons-in-being-funny-from-bob-odenkirk" target="_self">Bob Odenkirk</a>. Since, fans have absorbed the snippets of news on and tiniest of teasers for the show like a methadone drip. Now, a few weeks ahead of the show's premiere, we have our longest, most satisfying look yet at the pre-Walter White world of Saul Goodman.</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//c.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2015/01/3040764-inline-bettercallsaul2.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p>The two-minute trailer takes us back to the law firm days of Saul, aka James McGill. The clip confirms the return of Jonathan Banks (Mike Erhmantraut) and introduces us to McGill's older brother Chuck, played by Michael McKean.</p>
<p><em>Saul</em> executive producer Peter Gould has already stated (at a recent TCA panel) that Walter and Jesse will not appear in season one, though "everything else is on the table." Gould and Gilligan declared earlier that <em>Better Call Saul</em> would take place over a wide, shifting span of time. "One of the great things about having a time line which is flexible is that perhaps some of it takes place before <em>Breaking Bad</em>, during <em>Breaking Bad</em>, and after <em>Breaking Bad</em>," Gould said in an earlier <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/breaking-bad-spinoff-bring-back-walter-white-article-1.1847159" target="_blank">interview</a>. "That gives us the ability to bring back characters that were killed on <em>Breaking Bad</em>."</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//d.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2015/01/3040764-inline-bettercallsaul3.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p>At the recent TCA event in Pasadena, Gilligan <a href="http://insidetv.ew.com/2015/01/10/better-call-saul/" target="_blank">said</a>, "The sky is the limit and any of these characters could conceivably show up in future seasons. But the intention is it will feel proper and organic, because if it feels like a stunt then something has gone terribly wrong in the writers' room."</p>
<p>The show makes a two-part debut on February 8 and 9 on AMC.</p>Teressa Iezzihttp://www.fastcocreate.com/3040764http://www.fastcocreate.com/3040764/take-an-extended-mouth-watering-look-at-better-call-saul?partner=rss
http://www.fastcocreate.com/3040764/take-an-extended-mouth-watering-look-at-better-call-saul?partner=rss#commentsSun, 11 Jan 2015 22:29 +0000InnovationWu-Tang Clan Uses NY, Ferguson Protest Footage In New Video For "A Better Tomorrow"<p>To make the new video for "A Better Tomorrow," a track that deals with issues of inequality and injustice, Wu-Tang Clan tapped into the outpouring of grief, incredulity, and anger in cities across America in the wake of Grand Jury decisions in the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner at the hands of the police.</p>
<figure class="inline-video inline"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GhCNBsoLkjE?rel=1&amp;autoplay=0" width="560" height="340" frameborder="0"></iframe></figure>
<p>The video, for the title track on Wu-Tang Clan's newly released album, is composed of footage from the ongoing protests in New York and Ferguson, Missouri, some of it only a few days old at the time of the video's release. Visuals and audio from the protests are interspersed with footage of President Obama speaking at the 2014 White House Tribal Nations Conference last week. In his speech, the president addressed the events in Ferguson and New York and said, "right now unfortunately we are seeing too many instances where people just do not have confidence that folks are being treated fairly." In another segment of his speech used in the video he says, "it is incumbent upon all of us as Americans, regardless of race, region, faith, that we recognize this is an American problem and not just a black problem or a brown problem or a native American problem, this is an American problem. When anybody in this country is not being treated under the law, that's a problem."</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//g.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2014/12/3039507-inline-i-1-wu-tang-new-video-has-eric-garner-and-mike-brown-protest.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p>The video concludes with a list of people who, like Brown and Garner, were unarmed when killed by police officers over the past several years. The band notes on its YouTube page, the video was created "in the hopes of inspiring change and promoting unity throughout the world."</p>Teressa Iezzihttp://www.fastcocreate.com/3039507http://www.fastcocreate.com/3039507/wu-tang-clan-uses-ny-ferguson-protest-footage-in-new-video-for-a-better-tomorrow?partner=rss
http://www.fastcocreate.com/3039507/wu-tang-clan-uses-ny-ferguson-protest-footage-in-new-video-for-a-better-tomorrow?partner=rss#commentsSun, 07 Dec 2014 22:08 +0000InnovationSteven Soderbergh's Latest, Years-In-The Making Creative Project Will F#*& You Up<p>Steven Soderbergh is visible.</p>
<p>He cuts a lithe figure, to be sure. But, no doubt about it. There he is, seated at a table at the Standard Hotel bar. Indisputably corporeal. Reflecting light.</p>
<p>That may change when the drinking starts.</p>
<figure class="inline-small inline">
<img src="//f.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-small/inline/2014/10/3036864-inline-i-steven-soderberghs-new-brand-of-liquor-will-make-you-invisible-or-at-least-fck-you-up.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p>Steven Soderbergh is drinking his own brand of Bolivian liquor, <a href="http://singani63.com/" target="_blank">Singani 63,</a> which has a number of special characteristics. It's made from a particular kind of grape grown at a particular altitude in one particular place in the world. It creates a particular kind of buzz—Soderbergh has a technical description for it: "It will f*&amp;@ you up." It may, depending on your particular circumstances and chemical composition, allow you to feel remarkably healthy the day after you've become f*cked up. And it will make you invisible.</p>
<p>Co.Create can verify that the clear liquid, a smoother, more drinkable variety of what you might put in the category of high octane, high-burn drinks—think eau-de-vie—does f*#% you up. And, we can confirm that two separate occasions that involved drinking to (by most standards) excess were followed by mornings distinctly lacking in the usual crippling after-effects. (On a third occasion, the hangover was in full effect, but the research may have been tainted.)</p>
<p>And the invisibility? Well, where notions of self, the presence or "visibility" of self, and the whole question of being perceived intersect with alcohol consumption, it's a complicated question. It's hard to know when one is truly <em>seen</em>. We'll come back to that.</p>
<p>Of course among Singani 63's most unusual traits is that it is a Bolivian liquor that has become the dedicated creative project of Steven Soderbergh, Oscar-winning director of <em>Traffic</em>, the <em>Ocean's</em> franchise, <em>Contagion, Magic Mike</em>, and <em>Behind the Candelabra</em> who, since retiring from feature filmmaking has worked as executive producer and director of <em><a href="http://www.fastcocreate.com/3033915/bloody-hell-steven-soderbergh-dissects-his-modern-1900s-medical-drama-the-knick" target="_self">The Knick</a></em>, and undertaken a steady stream of projects ranging from celebrating the staging virtuosity of Steven Spielberg by turning <em>Raiders of the Lost Ark</em> into a black and white, silent film scored by Trent Reznor, to developing a new Amazon show with David Gordon Green, set in a country club, in the '80s.</p>
<aside class="pullquote"><q>I have been able to make my way to this point by... being able to distinguish between something that is ordinary, and something that's exceptional. That can be in the way a shot is composed, or a performance or anything. That's all you are doing. You're sort of defining what better is, and continuing to try and find it.</q></aside>
<p>For our sober, weekday afternoon purposes, that's the most interesting thing about Singani 63—that Soderbergh has spent the last six years working through the painstaking and painful-sounding process of launching it into the U.S. It's not a story of someone cleverly identifying a space in the market and concocting a product to exploit it, nor is it a story of a restless retiree who was looking for his version of a golden years vineyard. It's a story about a translating a core ethic from filmmaking, or, more broadly, storytelling, to building, of all things, an alcohol brand.</p>
<p>When he discovered this new drink, Soderbergh wasn't looking for a project. He was already on a project—a challenging one. The director first tried Singani as he commenced shooting his two-part 2008 feature <em>Che</em> in Spain and the film's Bolivian casting director, Rodrigo Bellot, handed him a bottle. Soderbergh, whose, sharp, direct style of speaking extends to his assessment of what he likes in a drink ("Wherever I am going to go, I like to get there") was immediately taken with the unusual spirit. It had a unique story, certainly. Singani is the national drink of Bolivia. It's made exclusively from white Muscat of Alexandria grapes grown at 5,250 feet in the Andes— which means it comes from the highest vineyards in the world, or as the promotional literature now describes it, "a terrain so high, most gringos would either pass out or feel as though they had barbed wire wrapped around their heads." The drink's history goes back to the mid-1500s when Spanish missionaries brought the grape to Bolivia. It has a Designation of Origin and a Geographical Indication.</p>
<p>But Soderbergh was particularly struck by its effects—a buzz-y sort of sensation, rather than a sloppy, wave-goodbye-to-your-motor-skills-if-you-can-still-wave kind of drunk. "I had literally never had a drink that I had that reaction to," he says.</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//b.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2014/10/3036864-inline-i-5-steven-soderberghs-new-brand-of-liquor-will-make-you-invisible-or-at-least-fck-you-up.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p>And then, egged on by some of his crew who had sampled and loved the drink, the director decided to share his finding with the world, with that question that has guided humankind's greatest leaps forward and most spectacular follies: how hard can it be?</p>
<p>If he had any vision for how the enterprise would play out, he says, "it was completely naive and insane."</p>
<p>"I have been able to make my way to this point by, pretty much, moment to moment, day to day, being able to distinguish between something that is ordinary, and something that's exceptional," he says. "That can be in the way a shot is composed, or a performance or anything. That's all you are doing. You're sort of defining what better is, and continuing to try and find it. My attitude, when I was exposed to Singani, was: for someone who has been a drinker for a long time, I thought this is really exceptional. This is totally unique. And so I said to myself, 'How hard can it be to bring something this good and tell people this is good.' I just really didn't understand what was involved…"</p>
<p>In the years since, Soderbergh has gone to the hard knock school of what's involved. After Bellot introduced Soderbergh to the Bolivian producer of Singani, Casa Real, and the company agreed to make a new label for export (the director named his new brand Singani 63 in a nod to his birth year), and after Soderbergh cleared the necessary hurdles to get 250 cases of his Bolivian invisibility liquid into the U..S.—via New Jersey— he recruited a brand management company, Brand Action Team to help him bring Singani to market. It was then that the head of that company, Steve Raye, sat the budding booze baron down for what Soderbergh calls a depressing three-hour monologue on the inner workings of the alcohol business. As deflating as that experience was, Soderbergh says there was "a glimmer of hope buried in that monologue," which was Raye telling him "'you have a really good product. That's the good news.'"</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//c.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2014/10/3036864-inline-i-2-steven-soderberghs-new-brand-of-liquor-will-make-you-invisible-or-at-least-fck-you-up.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p>That belief in the product is what's driven the project, what keeps Soderbergh enthusiastic despite the grinding nature of clearing an alcohol product through regulatory agencies and getting it distributed, and it's what has kept him involved in every aspect of building the brand.</p>
<p>The belief in the product also provides a creative and career throughline—the thing that makes this seemingly curious detour actually make sense as one of the projects that's filling the director's "retirement" years. As we've discussed here previously, Soderbergh stepped away from feature filmmaking at the top of his powers. He's been generous with his opinions on what's wrong with Hollywood and the business of cinema (his 2013 <a href="https://vimeo.com/65060864" target="_blank">state of cinema speech</a> at the San Francisco International Film Festival should be required viewing for anyone making films or trying to understand the business of doing so) but he boils down his decision to exit the studio moviemaking game to the fact that it was getting unfun.</p>
<p>Dealing with the ATF, FDA and the TTB on alcohol regulations isn't what anyone would call a good time in the classic sense, but, like making <em>The Knick</em>, it was the kind of fun a creator has bringing an experience to an audience in exactly the manner he sees fit, even, or especially when constraints of time (as was the case with <em>The Knick</em> and its tight shooting schedule) or law (as has been the case with Singani) necessitate creative problem solving. It's why he's done the heavy temporal, creative, and financial lifting himself—he wanted to shape all facets of the brand personally before entertaining the idea of bringing on a distribution partner or financial backer. "I wanted to establish the brand; I wanted to establish, most importantly, the voice of it, the way it was presented."</p>
<p>So far, that voice is expressed through the packaging—modern, but with a nod to the drink's Bolivian history—and the promotional materials, all written by Soderbergh, and designed in collaboration with Joanna Bush and Briana Auel. The first, unofficial ad for the product has the retro look of something that David Ogilvy might have put together after becoming invisible. The ad features the director and a sheep in a wood paneled room, with the tag line "This Sh*t Will F*ck You Up." A new "advertorial" destined for beverage magazines ups the arid, slightly absurd humor of the "ad" and sell sheet—it features a Q&amp;A with a slightly unhinged Dr. Soderbergh and co-opts a famous photo of a shirt-averse Russian dictator. As a brand architect, Soderbergh's got an obvious edge—after all, hardly any brands have access to an A-list director as creative consultant and content producer, for free. But he also seems to have a decent grasp on what makes modern marketing work (a grasp that has eluded many major marketers).</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//b.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2014/10/3036864-inline-i-3-steven-soderberghs-new-brand-of-liquor-will-make-you-invisible-or-at-least-fck-you-up.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p>Soderbergh favors the kind of entertaining "content" that establishes aesthetic and emotion, rather than hitting selling points. "My favorite kind of advertising comes at things from an oblique angle," he says. "When somebody does something that surprises you in a way you find either funny or emotional, some sort of switch has been flipped and you start to think about their product in a different way." If the brand takes off, there's an idea for a deliciously weird content series that Soderbergh's noodling with a famous friend. In the meantime, the brand has scored its first product placement deal—and it's a doozy. Singani 63 appears in a long scene (seriously, the duration and variety of shots of the bottle in the scene would make a brand integration pro weep) in David Fincher's hit, <em>Gone Girl.</em> Rather than an official placement, it was more a favor or perhaps just a gag—Fincher had called Soderbergh to ask for a few bottles; Soderbergh didn't even know why until he saw some stills from the eventual scene.</p>
<p>Through this whole process, he says, "I keep going back to it and saying, 'But I really liked it.' So that has to mean something. That's the Rosetta Stone. If I thought that, then someone else will feel that way. That's how things start. That's how my whole career has been built."</p>
<p>So far, there's ample indication that those in the business of moving booze feel the product warrants attention. Sales director Jon Brathwaite has found success getting Singani 63 into bars in New York, the first stop on the Singani non-Bolivian-world domination tour. As of August, Singani was also picked of by several bars at least one retail group in L.A. And, in a major coup, Soderbergh and team recently landed a deal with top wine and spirits distributor, Empire Merchants/Charmer-Sunbelt Group.</p>
<figure class="inline-small inline">
<img src="//e.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-small/inline/2014/10/3036864-inline-i-4-steven-soderberghs-new-brand-of-liquor-will-make-you-invisible-or-at-least-fck-you-up.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p>Empire CEO Lloyd Sobel, admits that the tone of Soderbergh's unique promotional materials was a factor in the deal. "He brings a fresh set of eyes and thoughts to the wine and liquor industry," says Sobel. "He's adding that personality that seems to have left the industry because it's become so corporate." But beyond finding the Singani sell sheet hilarious, Sobel says he was interested because the market is as ready as it's going to be for the unusual beverage. "What's going on in the spirit category is the explosion of craft spirits. People are more apt to try new adventurous products that are made in a craft way," says Sobel. "I think his timing is good. Five or six years ago it wouldn't have been readily acceptable for accounts to take on a new category with a strange name without a huge marketing budgets. Because of the whole consumer focus on craft spirits and heritage, etc., he has a good opportunity. I can see mixologists embracing this product because it is different; it's a discovery item and it's highly mixable, like vodka" (a spirit that Sobel says is leveling off after years of growth).</p>
<p>Soderbergh acknowledges that bit of luck inherent in the timing—the fact that it took him long enough to get Singani to New York that when it did finally land, the market was more receptive for an unusual product. While he initially thought he was dealing with a kind of vodka—Singani <em>looks</em> like vodka— the ATF told him it was classified as a brandy. In other words, instead of being another vodka after the explosion of vodka, he was going to be more or less in a category by himself with a unique product, at a time when "boutique" spirits are on the upswing and when people are more interested in having a signature drink, something (one hates to even say it) authentic. And while "authenticity" is a word that's been subject to abuse from the marketing world, it's still an important idea. And Singani is nothing if not authentic.</p>
<p>Which brings us to the product and what the hell it is, exactly.</p>
<p>Singani actually doesn't do what it says on the tin. It says brandy on the tin. The ATF said it was brandy. But, according to Soderbergh, it's not brandy, at least by some important, accepted definitions of the word. One core categorical disconnect has to do with wood—brandy, by definition, is aged in wood barrels; Singani is not aged, and it does its not aging not in wood. There are many, many other fascinating reasons that the Brandy shoe doesn't fit, and team Singani 63 is outlining all of them for the Alcohol Tax and Trade Bureau, as they make the case that Singani is not only not a brandy, it's its own category.</p>
<figure class="inline-small inline">
<img src="//g.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-small/inline/2014/10/3036864-inline-i-6-steven-soderberghs-new-brand-of-liquor-will-make-you-invisible-or-at-least-fck-you-up.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p>The invisibility effect very likely won't be among the arguments in that case.</p>
<p>So, about that.</p>
<p>Soderbergh, again, was clearly visible to Co.Create through one Singani-enhanced interview though not visible during two follow-up interviews (perhaps because those interviews were conducted by phone). He describes invisibility as more an erasure of the idea of self than a floating-sunglasses sort of thing. "It's more the feeling that you have somehow bonded so completely into your surroundings that you have become one with everybody and everything that's around. So the idea of you as an individual has kind of dropped away."</p>
<p>And while the drink is available at higher end bars, those seeking invisibility at their local store may be surprised at the accessible price point. "I didn't want it to be a 'luxury' liquor, because it's not," Soderbergh says. "That's what I liked about it—in Bolivia, it's accessible to everyone; everyone drinks it."</p>
<p>The pricing also reflects the overall purpose of this whole exercise, which was to bring what he deemed an exceptional product to market. Soderbergh's idea of success is sustainability—that the brand can be a viable business, not outsell Smirnoff.</p>
<p>"That's the goal," he says. And within that goal is the same thing that has driven any of his creative projects. "When you get someone to try it who hasn't tried it—that's fun. That's like making something and having someone see it and say, 'I really like it.' It's the same sensation. Nothing beats that."</p>Teressa Iezzihttp://www.fastcocreate.com/3036864http://www.fastcocreate.com/3036864/steven-soderberghs-latest-years-in-the-making-creative-project-will-f-you-up?partner=rss
http://www.fastcocreate.com/3036864/steven-soderberghs-latest-years-in-the-making-creative-project-will-f-you-up?partner=rss#commentsThu, 16 Oct 2014 10:00 +0000InnovationBloody Hell: Steven Soderbergh Dissects His Modern, 1900s Medical Drama, "The Knick" <p>From the jump, <em>The Knick</em> is a shot of pure New York.</p>
<p>In the show's opening moments, we see a man with stylish shoes wake from a post-bender stupor in a den of vice and head into the early morning streets, grabbing a cab (and arguing with the driver over the preferred route) to head to a high-stress job. He stalls a little to indulge in some liquid fortification on the way.</p>
<p>If the whole thing feels timeless, it's by design. While the scene is set in 1900, the conveyance is a hansom cab, and the fortification is (legal) liquid cocaine, the feeling—bolstered by a pulsing electronic track—is contemporary. Steven Soderbergh, who directed, shot, and edited all 10 episodes of the new Cinemax series, wanted viewers to be immersed in New York drama, instead of soaking in heavy "period."</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//f.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2014/08/3033915-inline-p-1-the-knick-interview-with-steven-soderbergh.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption><strong>Steve Soderbergh</strong> on the set of <em>The Knick</em></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>"Strangely enough," says Soderbergh, "my goal was to, in a way, make you forget that it was a period piece. At least in the sense of of how it sounded, how it felt, how it looked, I wanted to somehow have the viewer feel, oh, their sensation of New York in 1900 is like our sensation of New York now; that's how it felt to them."</p>
<p><em>The Knick</em>, premiering August 8 on Cinemax, revolves around New York's Knickerbocker hospital, at the dawn of the 20th century. As a buzz-collecting summer drama, and as a new cornerstone series for a channel in transition, it's got a lot to recommend it. There's a gorgeous, gritty old New York poised to explode into a new era, Clive Owen, in a role as juicy as a Delmonico steak, an Oscar winning film director, ample blood, grime, and brutality, and hide-your-eyes-graphic cutting and sewing of human bodies in the name of medical progress.</p>
<p>While the show explores the bloody frontiers of medicine in the pre-antibiotic age, the fast-paced narrative is cut through with issues of progress, race, class, and power. Owen is John Thackery, the brilliant and, naturally, troubled new head of surgery at the Knick, who must contend with the dictates of the institution's wealthy patrons, keeping the lights on (literally—electric lights are among the brand new inventions of the era), a cocaine addiction and, crucially, the integration of the hospital's first black surgeon, Dr. Algernon Edwards (Andre Holland), all while pushing surgical innovation and coping with the emotional fallout of failure in the operating theater. A range of other memorable characters add dramatic and darkly comic layers. Among the highlights: the ethically unbuttoned ambulance driver Cleary (Chris Sullivan) who gets paid by the body, the badass nun with a deeply unofficial sideline, Sister Harriet (Cara Seymour), and the green nurse, Lucy Elkins (Eve Hewson), who early in the series loses whatever innocence she had in a harrowing encounter with a withdrawl-crazed Thackery.</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//d.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2014/08/3033915-inline-i-2-the-knick-interview-with-steven-soderbergh.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p>Soderbergh, who you may remember is meant to be retired, was drawn back to the TV world (his first TV project was 2003's <em>K Street</em> on HBO) by a script he says he couldn't pass up. The show was created and written by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler and it's a drastic departure for a duo whose credits include sitcoms like <em>Empty Nest</em> and <em>The Tony Danza Show</em> and the films <em>Raising Helen</em> and <em>Big Miracle.</em></p>
<p>For Soderbergh, the dark subject matter is hardly a major zag, but the director pushed into new territory in creating the show's visual vernacular, and in the process and pace of production.</p>
<p>To create that contemporary tone, Soderbergh shot the vast majority of the show hand held. "I wanted it to feel like it was happening right now," he says. "I wanted the aesthetic to be participatory. It's not an approach you identify with a period film." Soderbergh used RED cameras with the new "Dragon" sensor, which he describes as "super sensitive," to accommodate working at low light levels—the gore and drama were shot with almost all natural light. Some sets were built with practical light fixtures, but "there wasn't a lot of augmentation," he says. "Every once in a while an actor would walk onto the set and say, 'Are you guys bringing any light in?'" he laughs. "And we'd go, 'No, that's it." All of which led to a strange phenomenon in the editing suite—looking at closeups, Soderbergh said he was plagued by the weird, undefined sensation that . . . something . . . was different, until he figured out he was unused to seeing his actors' pupils so large.</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//e.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2014/08/3033915-inline-i-1-the-knick-interview-with-steven-soderbergh.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p>And then there are the surgeries themselves, which figure prominently in the show's narrative and as such, are dealt with in the most direct possible terms. While the operating scenes may prove tough for the squeamish, once you get past the first cut, they're actually quite interesting—and medically accurate. (In fact maybe the most nauseating thing about the surgeries isn't the sight of scalpel tracks and blood and the smoke rising off cauterized flesh—it's thinking how barbaric our own medical practices will seem to people 100 years from today. Ugh. Bring on the <a href="http://elysium.tumblr.com/post/57629091544/from-crows-feet-to-cancer-med-pod-3000-cures" target="_blank"><em>Elysium</em>-style cancer-zapping Med-Pod 3000</a> already).</p>
<p>"I wanted those scenes to be accurate and be graphic enough to be a topic of conversation," says Soderbergh. "I don't feel like they're gratuitous, but they are extremely graphic." The production team worked with consultant Dr. Stanley Burns of the <a href="http://www.burnsarchive.com/" target="_blank">Burns archive</a>, keeper of the world's richest textual and photographic record of medical history. "The amount of material we had access to was unbelievable. His five-story brownstone/museum is incredibly comprehensive. We had a bucket of procedures that would suit any story point we needed to make. If we said we need a procedure we can tease out of for this many episodes, or just a one off, we'd call him up and say, 'What do you have?'"</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//a.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2014/08/3033915-inline-i-5-the-knick-interview-with-steven-soderbergh.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p>For Soderbergh, an additional novelty, and challenge, was the pace of production; the team shot at a brisk clip—570 script pages in 73 days. Perhaps because of the on-set rigor for which the director is known, the tight schedule worked, and its constraints yielded beautiful results. And it was fun, which isn't to be underestimated as a motivator for a guy who ushered in a new era of indie filmmaking in 1989 with, <em>Sex, Lies, and Videotape</em>, and went on to direct commercially and critically successful films nonstop for the next 24 years, before stepping back from a system he feels is broken.</p>
<p>When <em>The Knick</em> script came to him last May, Soderbergh hadn't been planning on doing a TV show exactly. He was finishing up what would be his last feature film, <em>Behind the Candelabra</em>. He planned to devote his time to painting but then ended up directing a theatrical production, <em>The Library</em>, doing unusual experiments on his site Extension 765 like <a href="http://extension765.com/sdr/16-heavens-gate-the-butchers-cut" target="_blank">re-editing</a> infamous films, <a href="http://www.fastcocreate.com/3018506/steven-soderberghs-twitter-novella-is-now-a-hardcover-book-but-you-can-read-it-online" target="_self">unspooling a novella on Twitter</a>, working on a multi-year project to bring his liquor brand, Singani, to America (about which more in an upcoming edition of Co.Create) and generally exploring what the next era of storytelling might look like. He's been <a href="https://vimeo.com/65060864" target="_blank">vocal about the shortcomings of the studio movie system</a> and has said in a past interview that, frankly, he wasn't having fun anymore. TV was a return to fun.</p>
<p>And not just the kind of fun that comes with shooting experimental bowel surgery with a handheld camera. "The vibe is better," he says. "There's less fear. Fear is not a pleasant sensation to be around when you're trying to problem solve. There's, I think, more faith in allowing creative people to solve problems the way they think they should be solved and without a lot of second guessing."</p>
<figure class="inline-video inline"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/r_xvw-_YJSo?rel=1&amp;autoplay=0" width="560" height="340" frameborder="0"></iframe></figure>
<p>Pace notwithstanding, however, the process of working on this particular TV show may not have been as much a departure from his film experience as it could have been.</p>
<p>"This was such an atypical experience for TV in that it was budgeted and boarded and shot like a movie. We weren't delivering episodes serially; we delivered the whole thing. We did lot of restructuring in the first half of the season, moving scenes from one episode to another and playing out throughlines at a different pace and with a different structure than it was written—that was a huge luxury to be able to see the whole thing and make global changes."</p>
<p>The show is produced out of Anonymous Content, the company behind <em>True Detective</em>, another drama defined by the vision of a single director who set the tone for, and helmed, the entire series. It represents a more holistic approach to TV-making—the production company delivers a more complete creative product to a network, with the involvement of a director throughout. It's the kind of cohesive production that Soderbergh says is, or should be, the future of TV. "I think you'll see more of that. It's a successful paradigm, in terms of creating a totally unified piece. I think you'll see more situations where you'll have a director as part of the core creative team."</p>
<p>With <em>The Knick</em> already renewed for a second season, Soderbergh will continue to slice up traditional notions of retirement. Two more TV projects are going forward with others in development, he says. Starz has ordered a 13-part anthology series based on the director's 2009 film, <em>The Girlfriend Experience</em>—Soderbergh will executive produce the show, to be written and directed by Lodge Kerrigan and Amy Seimetz. And Soderbergh will work with David Gordon Green (<em>Eastbound and Down, Pineapple Express</em>) on a pilot for Amazon called <em>Red Oaks</em>. Green will direct and Soderbergh will produce the comedy which is set in 1985 at a New Jersey country club.</p>
<p>"It's fun," he says of the project.</p>Teressa Iezzihttp://www.fastcocreate.com/3033915http://www.fastcocreate.com/3033915/bloody-hell-steven-soderbergh-dissects-his-modern-1900s-medical-drama-the-knick?partner=rss
http://www.fastcocreate.com/3033915/bloody-hell-steven-soderbergh-dissects-his-modern-1900s-medical-drama-the-knick?partner=rss#commentsThu, 07 Aug 2014 03:43 +0000Steven SoderberghThe KnickInnovationEating With The Chefs: A Stomach-Stirring Look At The Staff Meals Served At The World's Top Restaurants<p>When the people who make the world's most acclaimed meals sit down to eat before or after service, what's on the table? The sometimes-surprising, always drool-inducing answer is showcased in a new book from Per-Anders Jorgensen, <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Eating-Chefs-Per-Anders-Jorgensen/dp/0714865818" target="_blank">Eating With the Chefs: Family Meals from the World's Most Creative Restaurants</a></em>.</p>
<p>Jorgensen, a food photographer and Swede, traveled to 18 of the world's premier culinary destinations—including Denmark's Noma, Spain's Mugaritz and Asador Etxebarri, France's Le Chateaubriand, Italy's Il Canto and America's own French Laundry, Chez Panisse, wd-50, and Roberta's—and got an intimate look at the meals shared by chefs and restaurant staffs.</p>
<figure class="inline-small inline">
<img src="//b.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-small/inline/2014/05/3031273-inline-s-4-eating-with-chefs.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p>The book features plenty of gorgeous still lifes of the dishes themselves, shot in a warm, natural style that reflects the food—more homey dishes than diners get, but no less lovingly prepared. And it's the simplest meals and shots—the beat-up cast iron pan holding a house-made chorizo and fried egg, accessorized with a hunk of crusty bread at Asador Etxebarri—that are the most knee-bucklingly delicious looking. But the book also features a look at the people behind the scenes of these storied restaurants, with shots of staff at work and at rest, and sitting down and sharing their meal—the book's candid glimpses of the creative camaraderie happening around gorgeous tables groaning with hearty food will make your sad desk lunch seem that much sadder.</p>
<p>Indeed, as the book title indicates, these staff sit-downs are a kind of family meal. And that's what drew Jorgensen to the project. In the book's intro, he tells the story of eating alone at restaurants as a kid. "My fellow diners probably found the sight of this young boy eating alone a bit awkward, but for me it was heaven, because my family meal was right there, among the staff and chefs that work there."</p>
<p>He would go on to a career photographing food—he started 20 years ago when his now-wife Lotte hired him to shoot for a Swedish gourmet magazine and the two went on to launch Sweden-based food magazine, <a href="http://www.fool.se/" target="_blank"><em>Fool</em></a>. The idea for the book crystallized ten years ago when Jorgensen was shooting at Mugaritz and became fascinated with the contrast between the staff's meal—Basque peasant food—and the what the restaurant served patrons. "I was struck by the notion that so many restaurants must be mirroring family life like this backstage in their kitchens, and cooking the kind of honest, simple food that if you're lucky you had at home. That's something there is far too little of in the world today."</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//e.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2014/05/3031273-inline-s-3-eating-with-chefs.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p>While the staff meal hasn't always been something that would be suitable for photography, many restaurants now make it a priority. But why has the staff meal become more important when in other industries and companies, the trend is always toward cutting corners and costs? Jorgensen tells us, "because the deal with food and the end result depends largely on having staff that is happy and can perform at a high level."</p>
<p>He says that he spent two to three days photographing each restaurant in the book. "After the first two in Paris we had established a working method that served us well," he says. The photos are accompanied by stories of each restaurant and its philosophy of the staff meal. Chef Paulo Lopriore cooks the Il Canto staff meal himself, based on the most recent offerings of local farmers; at Asador Etxebarri, the emphasis is on "grandma's cooking;" Mugaritz has an in-house recipe book that begins, "Family meal is the most important station" at the restaurant.</p>
<p>See photos from the book in the gallery above and if you're feeling ambitious, try the recipe below from Chez Panisse for your own staff meal.</p>
<h3><a name="Summer_vegetable_soup_with_pesto">Summer vegetable soup with pesto</a></h3>
<p>Chez Panisse, Berkeley, California</p>
<p><strong>Ingredients:</strong><br />
<ul>
<li><span>Shelled fresh cranberry (borlotti) beans 2½ cups /450 g</span></li>
<li><span>Yellow onion, quartered 1 small</span></li>
<li><span>Bouquet Garni 1 </span></li>
<li><span>Green beans (French beans) 4 cups /450 g</span></li>
<li><span>Zucchini (courgettes) 2 medium /450 g </span></li>
<li><span>Yellow squash 2 medium / 450 g</span></li>
<li><span>Tomatoes 2</span></li>
<li><span>Orzo, conchiglie, or orrechiette pasta 4 oz. /120 g</span></li>
<li><span>Salt and black pepper To taste</span></li>
</ul>
For the pesto:<br />
<ul>
<li><span>Garlic cloves 6 heads</span></li>
<li><span>Basel leaves 2 bunches</span></li>
<li><span>Grated Parmesan cheese 4 tbsp. / 25 g</span></li>
<li><span>Extra virgin olive oil ½ cup / 120 ml</span></li>
</ul></p>
<p><strong>Instructions:</strong><br />
1. Bring a large saucepan or pot of salted water to a boil. Add the shelled beans, onions, and bouquet garni. Simmer for 30 minutes, until tender. <br />
2. Meanwhile, cut the green beans, zucchini (courgettes), and yellow squash into small pieces, roughly the size of the top of your little finger. <br />
3. Peel and seed the tomatoes. Place the seeds in a strainer (sieve) and strain the juice into the bean broth. Chop the tomatoes. <br />
4. When the beans are tender, drain them, reserving the cooking liquid. Discard the bouquet garni and the onion. Season the liquid to taste with salt. Add the green beans. <br />
5. Bring the liquid back to a simmer, then add zucchini and squash. When the broth comes to a simmer again, add the beans and the tomato. Simmer for 10 minutes, then add the pasta. Simmer for another 10 minutes. If the broth is too dense with vegetables, add a little more water. <br />
6. Meanwhile, make the pesto. Pound the garlic cloves to a paste with a mortar and pestle or puree in a food processor. Add the basil leaves and process to a paste. Add the Parmesan cheese, then drizzle in the olive oil to thin. Let stand in the mortar to serve or turn into a serving bowl. <br />
7. When the pasta s cooked, taste the soup and adjust the seasoning. Let the soup sit for one hour, then reheat to serve. <br />
8. Serve in warmed bowls with a generous spoonful of the pesto, accompanied with additional grated Parmesan cheese.</p>Teressa Iezzihttp://www.fastcocreate.com/3031273http://www.fastcocreate.com/3031273/eating-with-the-chefs-a-stomach-stirring-look-at-the-staff-meals-served-at-the-worlds-top-re?partner=rss
http://www.fastcocreate.com/3031273/eating-with-the-chefs-a-stomach-stirring-look-at-the-staff-meals-served-at-the-worlds-top-re?partner=rss#commentsMon, 02 Jun 2014 03:37 +0000InnovationUnilever Looks To Forge New Partnerships With Startups With The Launch Of The Foundry <p>More and more brands are working to find ways to collaborate with tech companies, recognizing the growing imperative to connect with audiences in more meaningful ways beyond ad campaigns, to explore new ways to use data, and, perhaps most crucially, just to generally catch up to the mobile revolution in progress. Unilever has been prominent among the brands devoting time and resources to cultivating these collaborations with tech companies, but has now thrown open the doors to startups everywhere.</p>
<p>The consumer goods giant has announced the creation of <a href="http://foundry.unilever.com/" target="_blank">The Unilever Foundry</a>, a new platform that unites and expands the company's existing efforts to work with startups. The Foundry will serve as Unilever's flagship, global tech collaboration and investment program, providing an accessible mechanism for startups to interact with the world's second largest advertiser, and gain access to the company's marketing expertise, massive global scale (Unilever products are used by 2 billion people daily), and, potentially, funding.</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//c.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2014/05/3030940-inline-i-1-unilever-forges-closer-ties-with-startups-with-the-foundry.jpg" alt=""/>
</figure>
<p>Keith Weed, Unilever chief marketing and communications officer, says the Foundry initiative is unique for its "pitch to pilot" approach. As part of the three-pronged program, startups can submit ideas to the Foundry site which will host an ongoing series of projects on different themes. Successful applicants will get $50,000 and a chance to create a pilot program with a major Unilever brand. At launch, the projects on the Foundry site revolve around sustainable living, digital retail experiences, smart kitchens, and quantified self. The second main element is mentoring—startups will have access to Unilever marketers over a period of three months. And third, the Foundry is linked to the company's existing venture capital arm, Unilever Ventures, giving strategically relevant startups in the digital marketing, mobile, content, e-commerce, analytics and data spaces, a chance at funding.</p>
<p>Unilever has been an early adopter when it comes to outreach to and investment in the tech world. In addition to founding Unilever Ventures in 2002, the company has worked over the last several years with accelerators like TechStars and U.K.'s Springboard and Collider. Weed laughs that the company was the first to do the now-cliched "marketer's tour of Silicon Valley" and has established relationships with the likes of Google, Facebook and Amazon. "Long may that continue," says Weed, "but we also want to meet the future movers and shakers. We're committed to this as a way of getting to ideas and innovation but also as a way of bringing more action-oriented thinking and dynamism into the company."</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//a.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2014/05/3030940-inline-i-3-unilever-forges-closer-ties-with-startups-with-the-foundry.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption><span class="credit">Image: Flickr user <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kevandotorg/3917182112" target="_blank">Kevan Davis</a></span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Unilever Foundry program, created in partnership with R/GA London, formalizes all of the company's tech efforts and was inspired in particular by an initiative launched last December called Go Global. That program saw Unilever pair seven startups with seven billion-Euro brands, offering $100,000 in funding, mentorship, and a pilot digital marketing project.</p>
<p>For startups in this space, especially those looking to expand into global markets, Unilever's scale is an obvious attraction, but in the tech world, where sophistication vis-a-vis marketing <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/25/fred-wilson-marketing-is-for-companies-who-have-sucky-products/" target="_blank">can be in short supply,</a> access to one of the world's biggest marketing machines should be a considerable draw—Weed says the mentoring portion of Go Global, originally considered an add-on turned out to be a key benefit.</p>
<p>For Unilever, Weed says the main goal of the program is engaging and adding value for consumers. The CMO has also noted the mobile imperative—he <a href="http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/10/21/mobile-going-have-bigger-impact-internet-unilever-cmo-keith-weed-talks-new-brand" target="_blank">told</a> a marketing publication last year that "mobile is going to have a bigger impact than the Internet had." And of course there's the opportunity to make bets on future tech winners and create new revenue potential beyond selling soap and ice cream. Unilever's past investments have included Brandtone, a mobile marketing company focusing on emerging markets—Unilever was an early investor and a major advertiser on the platform—and market research consultancy Brainjuicer (Unilever invested in 2003 and divested its stake in 2010 and 2011, generating, according to the company, "a 17x multiple on its investment"). And the company has just announced that it will invest in content marketing platform, Percolate.</p>
<figure class="inline-video inline"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HCFNwoonrs8?rel=1&amp;autoplay=0" width="560" height="340" frameborder="0"></iframe><figcaption>A Brandtone case study</figcaption></figure>
<p>The Foundry, and programs like it, is also about shifting corporate mindset. <a href="http://www.fastcocreate.com/1679248/taking-ownership-in-ideas-how-ad-agencies-can-really-act-more-like-tech-start-ups" target="_self">All marketing entities</a> have been eager to emulate the processes and mentality of startups, making the shift from the over-baked, overwrought, over-tested campaign mentality to a more nimble, utility-minded approach. And Unilever is, by all appearances, reasonably forward-facing as giant companies go—CEO Paul Polman instituted the ambitious <a href="http://www.unileverusa.com/sustainable-living-2014/unilever-sustainable-living-plan/" target="_blank">Sustainable Living Plan</a> in 2012, promising to double the company's size while reducing its environmental footprint and meeting various sustainability and social impact goals. He's also done things like eliminating quarterly reports, and the company has been among the most creative marketers for some time. "We spend a lot of time doing planning and perfecting," says Weed. "What startups do is launch and learn. It's good for us."</p>
<p>Weed also says the project is, finally, just about shaping the future of marketing. "We have a responsibility and opportunity to use our scale and expertise to pioneer the future," he says.</p>Teressa Iezzihttp://www.fastcocreate.com/3030940http://www.fastcocreate.com/3030940/unilever-looks-to-forge-new-partnerships-with-startups-with-the-launch-of-the-foundry?partner=rss
http://www.fastcocreate.com/3030940/unilever-looks-to-forge-new-partnerships-with-startups-with-the-launch-of-the-foundry?partner=rss#commentsWed, 21 May 2014 22:55 +0000InnovationDamn, New York! Check Out Real NYC Style On The Streets During Fashion Week<p>While fashion week unfolds at Lincoln Center next year's trends are being created on the streets. Brooklyn-based photographer <a href="http://instagram.com/ruddyroye#" target="_blank">Ruddy Roye</a> has been capturing the street style innovators walking the asphalt runways of New York's five boroughs and spilling out of the "tents" during Fashion Week—and sharing it all via our <a href="http://instagram.com/fastcompany#" target="_blank">Instagram feed.</a></p>
<p>Roye, a photojournalist and self-described "Instagram activist," has been capturing people on the streets of New York for years, often showing his followers a look at the city they might not otherwise see.</p>
<p>In addition to shooting portraits of New Yorkers, Roye has captured the style of the Congolese <a href="http://www.ruddyroye.com/#/galleries/sapologie-au-congo" target="_blank">"Sapeurs"</a> and Jamaican dancehall culture. He took over The New Yorker's Instagram feed in October of 2012 with his images taken during Hurricane Sandy.</p>
<p>"Photography," says Roye, "is finding a piece of me in the eyes or essence of everyone and everything I photograph. It has always been a collaborative effort. I think if you are true to the thing that motivates you, then you can stimulate that in the things and people you are trying to get it from. Like everything has its reflection."</p>
<p>Did anything surprise him about shooting the people of Fashion Week? "I think seeing how a city can galvanize and come together always fascinates me. Like natural disasters, like around 9/11, I find solace in the fact that it is something we can still do. I just can't wait to see us do the same around poverty, homelessness, hunger and a host of other social ills."</p>
<p>Follow <a href="http://instagram.com/fastcompany#" target="_blank">Fast Company's Instagram feed</a> to see Roye's images of New York style and contribute your own looks by tagging your photos with #RealStyleNY.</p>
<p>In the gallery above, see the amazing images—and stories— of self-styled fashionistas captured by Roye's lens.</p>
<figure class="inline-large inline">
<img src="//d.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2014/02/3026302-inline-s-1-realstyleny-fashion-week-photog.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption><strong>Proverbs Taylor:</strong> "Fashion is the way you express yourself. It is a way of making connections with garments. Whether it is something pricey from an established designer or a hoodie from the hood, even the controversial fur, clothes and fashion expresses a feeling that can inspire my music."</figcaption>
</figure>Teressa Iezzihttp://www.fastcocreate.com/3026302http://www.fastcocreate.com/3026302/damn-new-york-check-out-real-nyc-style-on-the-streets-during-fashion-week?partner=rss
http://www.fastcocreate.com/3026302/damn-new-york-check-out-real-nyc-style-on-the-streets-during-fashion-week?partner=rss#commentsWed, 12 Feb 2014 12:31 +0000The 5 Best Ads From Super Bowl XLVIII<p>While most marketers, rightly, look to build on the once-a-year mass audience opportunity afforded by the Super Bowl, fewer of them actually end up creating something that stands on its own as worthwhile content or warrants the extended play.</p>
<p>If you expect to stoke and sustain people's interest, there has to be something more than "this is a thing that's related to a Super Bowl spot, which is interesting in itself." And that's what most of this year's Super Plus strategies added up to.</p>
<p>After Oreo's much discussed <a href="http://www.fastcocreate.com/1682352/see-the-8-best-ads-of-super-bowl-xlvii#6" target="_self">"Dunk in the Dark"</a> tweet last year, all eyes were on advertisers' social channels (well, the eyes of people in marketing and the people who follow brands on Twitter, so not really ALL eyes) to see how they would respond to action on the field and on the social platform. Many agency and brand people spent their Super Bowl Sunday nights in "war rooms" around the country, ready to pounce on the conversational opportunities that presented themselves during the game.</p>
<p>But in the end, there was no big catalyzing moment in the game, and none in brands' social feeds. There was a lot of inter-brand communication, and several cute efforts, like JC Penney's mittens gag. The retailer started tweeting <a href="https://twitter.com/jcpenney/statuses/430134469274501120" target="_blank">typo-ridden messages</a> prompting some to respond with ridicule before Penney revealed the payoff: "Oops...Sorry for the typos. We were #TweetingWithMittens. Wasn't it supposed to be colder? Enjoy the game! #GoTeamUSA"). The multi-tweet effort was a promo for the company's Go Team USA Mittens.</p>
<p>It was an unexpected brand that perhaps captured the most buzz—<a href="https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/statuses/430154695860953088" target="_blank">Hillary Clinton</a>, who went zing! with: "It's so much more fun to watch FOX when it's someone else being blitzed &amp; sacked! #SuperBowl"</p>
<p>And <a href="https://twitter.com/Oreo/statuses/430117178135023617" target="_blank">Oreo</a> itself zagged by tweeting the equivalent of "we were doing this before it was cool so we're going to let you losers go nuts," simply issuing the tweet: "Hey guys…enjoy the game tonight. We're going dark. #OreoOut."</p>
<p>When it came to the filmed messages, sweeping cinematics, patriotism, and FEELINGS ruled the night. Continuing the trend toward more emo ads, the Super Bowl provided plenty of opportunity for awkward social crying with commercials that opted for Human Moments rather than chuckles. Between Chevy's World Cancer Day spot, a wordless slice of life featuring a couple driving to the tune of "Don't Leave" by Ane Brue, Budweiser's dual weepers, "Puppy Love" and "A Hero's Welcome," and Bob Dylan reminding us that "you can't import, the heart and soul, of every man and woman working on the line," while making a case for the US auto industry, we had a lot of soul searching to do in between Seattle touchdowns.</p>
<p>And it seemed that among all those big statements, there were missed opportunities, like Budweiser aforementioned elaborate welcome parade for a solider returning from Afghanistan. While our hearts swelled thinking about a happy homecoming for that serviceman, ultimately, the spot may have left many people with a slight hollow feeling. What if Budweiser devoted its resources to helping all returning vets? It would be nice to see an organization of the size of many Super Bowl advertisers do something more substantive for more members of that, or any group—groups that could use a hand and aren't getting it from the institutions that are meant to be providing it (and maybe Budweiser is doing this without fanfare; if so, kudos, and let us know about it).</p>
<p>Here, the ads that stood out during Super Bowl XLVIII.</p>
<h2><a name="5_Newcastle_S_B_Campaign">5. Newcastle "S**** B*** Campaign"</a></h2>
<figure class="inline-video inline"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9g9wXBkdWEg?rel=1&amp;autoplay=0" width="560" height="340" frameborder="0"></iframe></figure>
<p>Of course, this really isn't a Super Bowl ad, but a well played Super Bowl ambush. Newcastle has built its persona over the past few years by pricking the pomposity and manufactured cool of typical Big Beer marketing. What better way to take that not-quite-epic approach to the next level (down?) by lampooning the whole Super Bowl ad circus, while simultaneously drafting off of its mighty wind? Newcastle and agency Droga5 launched the campaign with the "Teaser for the trailer for Newcastle's Mega Huge Football Game Ad" and kept going with a <a href="http://www.ifwemadeit.com/" target="_blank">site</a> featuring the ads that could have been, and spots showing a hilariously and sadly real focus group and sort of spokesperson Anna Kendrick. During the game, the brand's Twitter poked good-natured fun at real Super Bowl advertisers (sample: "Didn't see that end coming in your bodybuilder Ad @GoDaddy. And you won't see it coming in our version #IfWeMadeIt <a href="http://youtu.be/RM-lDsZudG4">http://youtu.be/RM-lDsZudG4</a>").</p>
<h2><a name="4_Axe_Make_Love_Not_War">4. Axe "Make Love Not War"</a></h2>
<figure class="inline-video inline"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0Z38VrjdE_I?rel=1&amp;autoplay=0" width="560" height="340" frameborder="0"></iframe></figure>
<p>After last year's campaign which entailed sending average guys to space, Axe returns with a play for world peace.</p>
<h2><a name="3_CocaCola_Its_Beautiful">3. Coca-Cola "It's Beautiful"</a></h2>
<figure class="inline-video inline"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/443Vy3I0gJs?rel=1&amp;autoplay=0" width="560" height="340" frameborder="0"></iframe></figure>
<p>There was much celebrating of America during the game, unsurprisingly, and Coke's addition to the patriotic festivities was a one-minute film showing peoples from a wide range of cultural groups singing "America the Beautiful"—in seven languages in all (and apparently, the ad also featured the Super Bowl's first gay family). A nice, simple spot that, of course, provoked impotent, silly rage from the mad minority on Twitter (sample tweet: "You can't sing an American song in another language! #boycottcoke"). We salute both Cheerios (which revisited its interracial family for this year's Super Bowl) and Coke for putting unremarkable yet lovely reality in people's faces. Racists' food choices are dwindling by the day, and for that, advertisers, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-IDBlRK-iA" target="_blank">we thank you.</a></p>
<h2><a name="2_Chobani_Ransacked">2. Chobani "Ransacked"</a></h2>
<figure class="inline-video inline"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ABxP3t7XP3g?rel=1&amp;autoplay=0" width="560" height="340" frameborder="0"></iframe></figure>
<p>What a relief to see something with a sense of humor instead of an earnest meditation on, and obligatory images of healthy lifestyles and white swells of milk. Instead we have a giant bear who just wants to pay for his yogurt. That's what the Super Bowl is all about.</p>
<h2><a name="1_Budweiser_Puppy_Love_">1. Budweiser "Puppy Love" </a></h2>
<figure class="inline-video inline"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uQB7QRyF4p4?rel=1&amp;autoplay=0" width="560" height="340" frameborder="0"></iframe></figure>
<p>Once again, Budweiser and agency Anomaly create a beautiful bit of emotional manipulation that everyone can willingly, happily wallow in. There's nothing subtle here—Majestic Clydesdales! Puppies! Inter-species love!— but it's all done so well you just sit back and enjoy the tear-soaked ride—repeatedly. Like last year's spot, "Brotherhood," "Puppy Love" was highly re-watchable. And, as it did last year, the team behind the ad just nailed the music. The track, "Let Her Go" by Passenger makes the commercial, as did last year's musical accompaniment to Bud's tale of man/beast bonding, "Landslide" from Fleetwood Mac.</p>
<p>If I were the creative director: the main dog character would have been a mutt. A litter of champion labs is a little on the (adorable) nose. A big-pawed, non-breed-specific mutt would have been a great counterpoint to the majesty and triumph of breeding that is the Clydesdale, would have made a statement about dog adoption and would have been a little zag that would have created extra interest.</p>Teressa Iezzihttp://www.fastcocreate.com/3025944http://www.fastcocreate.com/3025944/super-bowl-xlviii/the-5-best-ads-from-super-bowl-xlviii?partner=rss
http://www.fastcocreate.com/3025944/super-bowl-xlviii/the-5-best-ads-from-super-bowl-xlviii?partner=rss#commentsMon, 03 Feb 2014 12:25 +0000super bowlSuper Bowl 2014Super Bowl xlviiiMaking A Super Bowl Spot: Audi Burns Vampire Culture, Demonstrates Headlights In Super Bowl Ad<p>Audi comes to bury the vampire trend, while praising the rad headlights on the new 2013 S7 in the brand's social media-enhanced Super Bowl XLVI ad campaign.</p>
<p>The automaker, which has been a big presence in the last few Super Bowls, engineered a social media contest around its advertising this year. Through the "Race The Light" contest, the brand's Facebook fans could unlock pieces of the 60-second Super Bowl spot online. Those who collected all the pieces to the spot puzzle in 60 seconds or less were able to unlock the final ad and were also entered into contest to win a trip the Audi Sportscar Experience in Sonoma, CA.</p>
<p>With the spot "solved," Audi has now posted the full spot on YouTube.</p>
<figure class="inline-video inline"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lw9ZeXB2uKs?rel=1&amp;autoplay=0" width="584" height="354" frameborder="0"></iframe></figure>
<p>Created by agency Venables Bell &amp; Partners, the commercial features a group of young adult vampires partying in the woods, accompanied by the track, "Killing Moon" by Echo and The Bunnymen. As one of the revelers pulls up to the party in his Audi S7, he accidentally incinerates his undead friends.</p>
<p>The spot sees Audi attempting a sly cultural commentary while demonstrating the firepower of the signature LED headlights. "With a humorous twist at the end, Audi LEDs—which at 5,500 Kelvin mimic daylight—put a stake in one of the most hyped trends of the decade," says Scott Keogh, CMO of Audi of America. This year's spot will run in the first quarter of the game.</p>
<p>Audi has shown a more brash persona it its advertising over the last several years, and its Super Bowl spots have been no exception (see the Best Super Bowl spots roundup below). The brand has also been keen to experiment with social media around the Super Bowl ad buy; it was the first to include a Twitter hashtag in its spot last year and this year's spot throws to Twitter with #SoLongVampires. Keogh says the Super Bowl remains a draw for the brand as it drives traffic-online and offline. "We have achieved record levels of awareness and showroom traffic with national consideration numbers showing significant spikes post game, and are confident that this year will follow suit," says Keogh. Last year, says Keogh, the brand generated over 2 billion media impressions, and was rated by Nielson as the number one auto brand pre-game.</p>
<p>Erich Pfeifer, creative director at Venables Bell &amp; Partners says this year, enthusiastic fans cracked the Super Bowl contest before all the agency's paid media and PR were switched on.</p>
<p>Pfeifer is confident that angry <em>Twilight</em> freaks won't boycott the brand. "We embraced the idea and leaned into it," he says. "We knew that the vampire trend was near or at a tipping point. We just felt it was a bit of a high five with the cultural zeitgeist." The mandate for Super Bowl creative is always the same, he says: "to entertain."</p>
<p>"As a premium luxury brand, we need to make sure Audi is seen in the proper light," says Pfeifer. <br />
"In that sense we are lucky that we don't have to deliver ye olde nut shots, dogs and talking babies commercials. We can present a point of view or an idea that raises above the fray but still is enjoyable. This is our fifth year and I feel we have succeeded each year delivering smart work versus cliched tomfoolery."</p>
<p>As for the choice of an iconic track (near and dear to the heart of many a GenX-er), Pfeifer says it took some work to gain access to the track but it was worth it. "Making an impact on the Super Bowl requires a full arsenal and music is an important weapon," he says. "The track was actually suggested to us from the group account director. We used it throughout the rough cut stage and it just worked. The lyrics help the story. It was culturally relevant to the Audi target. It is just a killer track. I will say, however, it was a bit of a battle to get final sign off, but, thankfully, we did.</p>Teressa Iezzihttp://www.fastcocreate.com/1679458http://www.fastcocreate.com/1679458/making-a-super-bowl-spot-audi-burns-vampire-culture-demonstrates-headlights-in-super-bowl-ad?partner=rss
http://www.fastcocreate.com/1679458/making-a-super-bowl-spot-audi-burns-vampire-culture-demonstrates-headlights-in-super-bowl-ad?partner=rss#commentsMon, 20 Jan 2014 17:36 +0000AudicocreateScott Keoghsuper bowlSuper Bowl XLVIVenables Bell & PartnersAdvertisingSuper Bowl XLVI